República Francesa contra Comisión de las Comunidades Europeas.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Date: 16 June 1993
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)

Avis juridique important

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61991J0325

Judgment of the Court of 16 June 1993. - French Republic v Commission of the European Communities. - Challengeable act. - Case C-325/91.

European Court reports 1993 Page I-03283
Swedish special edition Page 00087
Finnish special edition Page I-00251

Summary
Parties
Grounds
Decision on costs
Operative part

Keywords

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1. Actions for annulment ° Actionable measures ° Acts intended to have legal effects ° Commission communication presented as designed to specify the manner of application of a directive but creating new obligations for the Member States

(EEC Treaty, Art. 173; Commission Directive 80/723, Art. 5(2); Commission communication of 18 October 1991)

2. Community law ° Principles ° Legal certainty ° Community legislation ° Requirement for clarity and foreseeability ° Express indication of the legal basis

Summary

1. An action for annulment is available in the case of all measures adopted by the institutions, whatever their nature or form, which are intended to have legal effects. This applies to a Commission communication which sets out to specify the manner of application of Article 5(2) of Directive 80/723 on the transparency of financial relations between Member States and public undertakings, was published in the C Series of the Official Journal and was notified to each Member State.

That communication, which requires Member States annually to report to the Commission, on a general, systematic basis, data relating to the financial relations of a particular category of undertaking achieving a specified turnover, constitutes an act intended to have legal effects of its own distinct from those of Article 5(2) of the directive and adds new obligations to those provided for by that provision.

2. The principle of legal certainty, which is part of the Community legal order, requires Community legislation to be clear and its application to be foreseeable for all interested parties. As a result of that requirement, any act intended to have legal effects must derive its binding force from a provision of Community law which prescribes the legal form to be taken by that act and which must be expressly indicated therein as its legal basis, failing which the act in question will be null and void.

Parties

In Case C-325/91,

French Republic, represented by Edwige Belliard, Deputy Director in the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Géraud de Bergues, Principal Deputy Secretary for Foreign Affairs in that Ministry, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the French Embassy, 9 Boulevard du Prince Henri,

applicant,

v

Commission of the European Communities, represented by Antonino Abate, Principal Legal Adviser, and Michel Nolin, of its Legal Service, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Nicola Annecchino, of its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg,

defendant,

APPLICATION for the annulment of the Commission communication to the Member States on the application of Articles 92 and 93 of the EEC Treaty and of Article 5 of Commission Directive 80/723/EEC to public undertakings in the manufacturing sector (OJ 1991 C 273, p. 2) ° Transparency of financial relations between Member States and national public undertakings ° Reporting system,

THE COURT,

composed of: O. Due, President, M. Zuleeg and J.L. Murray (Presidents of Chambers), G.F. Mancini, F.A. Schockweiler, J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, F. Grévisse, M. Diez de Velasco and P.J.G. Kapteyn, Judges,

Advocate General: G. Tesauro,

Registrar: J.-G. Giraud,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing oral argument from the parties at the hearing on 24 November 1992, at which the French Government was represented by Philippe Pouzoulet, Director of the Second Class in the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assisted by Catherine de Salins, Foreign Affairs Adviser in that Ministry, acting as Agents,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 16 December 1992,

gives the following

Judgment

Grounds

1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 14 December 1991, the French Republic brought an action under the first paragraph of Article 173 of the EEC Treaty for the annulment of an act adopted by the Commission entitled "Commission communication to the Member States ° Application of Articles 92 and 93 of the EEC Treaty and of Article 5 of...