Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 14 March 2024 – European Commission v Republic of Poland
(Case C-452/22) 1
(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Article 258 TFEU – Directive (EU) 2018/1972 – European Electronic Communications Code – Failure to transpose and to notify transposition measures – Article 260(3) TFEU – Application for the imposition of a lump sum and a periodic penalty payment – Criteria for determining the amount of the penalty)
Language of the case: Polish
Parties
Applicant: European Commission (represented by: U. Małecka, L. Malferrari and E. Manhaeve, acting as Agents)
Defendant: Republic of Poland (represented by: B. Majczyna, acting as Agent)
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Declares that, by failing to adopt, by the expiry of the period prescribed in the reasoned opinion, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code, and, consequently, by failing to notify those measures to the European Commission, the Republic of Poland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 124(1) of that directive;
Declares that, by failing to adopt, by the date the Court examined the facts, the provisions necessary to transpose into its national law the provisions of Directive 2018/1972 and, consequently, by failing to notify those measures to the Commission, the Republic of Poland persisted in its failure to fulfil its obligations;
Should the failure to fulfil obligations established in point 1 persist at the date of delivery of this judgment, orders the Republic of Poland to pay the European Commission, as from that date and until that Member State has put an end to that failure to fulfil obligations, a daily penalty payment of EUR 50 000;
Orders the Republic of Poland to pay the Commission a lump sum in the amount of EUR 4 million;
Orders the Republic of Poland, in addition to bearing its own costs, to pay those incurred by the Commission.
____________
1 OJ C 326, 29.8.2022.