Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 28 June 2022 – European Commission v Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-278/20) ¹

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Liability of Member States for loss or harm caused to individuals by breaches of EU law – Breach of EU law attributable to the national legislature – Breach of the Constitution of a Member State attributable to the national legislature – Principles of equivalence and effectiveness)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: J. Baquero Cruz, I. Martínez del Peral and P. Van Nuffel, acting as agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: L. Aguilera Ruiz, S. Centeno Huerta, A. Gavela Llopis and J. Rodríguez de la Rúa Puig, acting as agents)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Declares that, by adopting and maintaining in force Article 32(3) to (6) and the second subparagraph of Article 34(1) of Ley 40/2015 de Régimen Jurídico del Sector Público (Law 40/2015 on the legal system governing the public sector) of 1 October 2015 and the third subparagraph of Article 67(1) of Ley 39/2015 del Procedimiento Administrativo Común de las Administraciones Públicas (Law 39/2015 on the common administrative procedure of the public authorities) of 1 October 2015, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under the principle of effectiveness, in that those provisions make compensation for the loss or harm caused to individuals by the Spanish legislature as a result of an infringement of EU law subject to:

– the condition that there is a decision of the Court of Justice declaring that the statutory provision applied is incompatible with EU law;

– the condition that the individual harmed has obtained, before any court, a final decision dismissing an action brought against the administrative act which caused the loss or harm, without providing for an exception for cases in which the loss or harm stems directly from an act or omission on the part of the legislature, contrary to EU law, without there being any administrative act open to challenge;

– a limitation period of one year from the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of the decision of the Court of Justice declaring that the statutory provision applied is incompatible with EU law, without covering cases in which such a decision does not exist, and

– the condition that compensation may be awarded only in respect of loss or harm which occurred within five years preceding the date of that publication, unless otherwise provided for in that decision;

Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

Orders the European Commission and the Kingdom of Spain each to bear their own costs.

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¹ OJ C 271, 17.8.2020.