Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 19 September 2006 (references for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverwaltungsgericht, Germany) - i-21 Germany GmbH and Arcor AG & Co. KG v Bundesrepublik Deutschland
(Joined Cases C-392/04 and C-422/04) 1 (Telecommunication services - Directive 97/13/EC - Article 11(1) - Fees and charges for individual licences - Article 10 EC - Primacy of Community law - Legal certainty - Final administrative decision)
Language of the cases: German
Referring court
Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Germany)
Parties to the main proceedings
Appellants: i-21 Germany GmbH (C-392/04), Arcor AG & Co. KG (C-422/04)
Respondent: Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Re:
Reference for a preliminary ruling - Bundesverwaltungsgericht - Interpretation of Article 10 EC and Article 11(1) of Directive 97/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 April 1997 on a common framework for general authorisations and individual licences in the field of telecommunications services (OJ 1997 L 117, p. 5) - Fees applicable to the undertakings which have individual licences, calculated to anticipate the national regulatory authority's general administrative costs over a period of 30 years
Operative part of the judgment
1. Article 11(1) of Directive 97/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 April 1997 on a common framework for general authorisations and individual licences in the field of telecommunications services precludes the application of a fee for individual licences calculated by taking into account the regulatory body's general administrative costs linked to implementing those licences over a period of 30 years.
2. Article 10 EC, read in conjunction with Article 11(1) of Directive 97/13, requires the national court to ascertain whether legislation which is clearly incompatible with Community law, such as that on which the fee assessments at issue in the main proceedings are based, constitutes manifest unlawfulness within the meaning of the national law concerned. If that is the case, it is for the national court to draw the necessary conclusions under its national law with regard to the withdrawal of those assessments.
____________1 - OJ C 273, 6.11.2004. OJ C 284, 20.11.2006.