Salomone Haim contra Kassenzahnärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Celex Number: 61997CJ0424
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2000:357
• Docket Number: C-424/97
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling
• Date: 04 July 2000

Avis juridique important

|

61997J0424

Judgment of the Court of 4 July 2000. - Salomone Haim v Kassenzahnärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein. - Reference for a preliminary ruling: Landgericht Düsseldorf - Germany. - Member State liability in the event of a breach of Community law - Breaches attributable to a public-law body of a Member State - Conditions for the liability of the Member State and of a public-law body of that State - Compatibility of a language requirement with freedom of establishment. - Case C-424/97.

European Court reports 2000 Page I-05123

Summary
Parties
Grounds
Decision on costs
Operative part

Keywords

1. Community law - Rights conferred on individuals - Where breached by a Member State - Obligation to make good damage caused to individuals by a public-law body - Possibility of that body, in addition to the Member State, being liable

2. Community law - Rights conferred on individuals - Breach by a Member State - Obligation to make good damage caused to individuals - Conditions - Sufficiently serious breach - Definition

3. Freedom of movement for persons - Freedom of establishment - Freedom to provide services - Practitioners of dentistry - Appointment, as a social security dental practitioner, of a national of another Member State - Requirement of linguistic knowledge - Permissible - Limits

(EC Treaty, Art. 52 (now, after amendment, Art. 43 EC); Council Directive 78/686, Art. 3)

Summary

1. It is for each Member State to ensure that individuals obtain reparation for loss and damage caused to them by non-compliance with Community law, whichever public authority is responsible for the breach and whichever public authority is in principle, under the law of the Member State concerned, responsible for making reparation.

However, reparation for loss and damage caused to individuals by national measures taken in breach of Community law does not necessarily have to be provided by the Member State itself in order for its obligations under Community law to be fulfilled. Thus, in the Member States in which certain legislative or administrative tasks are devolved to territorial bodies with a certain degree of autonomy or to any other public-law body legally distinct from the State, reparation for that loss and damage caused by measures taken by a public-law body may be made by that body.

Nor does Community law preclude a public-law body, in addition to the Member State itself, from being liable to make reparation for loss and damage caused to individuals as a result of measures which it took in breach of Community law.

( see paras 27, 29, 31-32, 34, and operative part 1 )

2. In order to determine whether there is a serious breach of Community law, qua one of the conditions to be satisfied for a Member State to be required to make reparation for loss and damage caused to individuals as a result of breaches of Community law for which the State can be held responsible, account must be taken of the extent of the discretion enjoyed by the Member State concerned. The existence and the scope of that discretion must be determined by reference to Community law and not by reference to national law. The discretion which may be conferred by national law on the official or the institution responsible for the breach of Community law is therefore irrelevant in this respect.

In order to determine whether a mere infringement of Community law by a Member State constitutes a sufficiently serious breach, a national court hearing a claim for reparation must take account of all the factors which characterise the situation put before it. Those factors include, in particular, the clarity and precision of the rule infringed, whether the infringement and the damage caused was intentional or involuntary, whether any error of law was excusable or inexcusable, and the fact that the position taken by a Community institution may have contributed towards the adoption or maintenance of national measures or practices contrary to Community law.

( see paras 36, 40, 41-43, 49, and operative part 2 )

3. The competent authorities of a Member State may make the appointment, as a social security scheme dental practitioner, of a national of another Member State who is established in the first Member State and authorised to practise there but has none of the qualifications mentioned in Article 3 of Directive 78/686 concerning the mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other evidence of the formal qualifications of practitioners of dentistry, including measures to facilitate the effective exercise of the right of establishment and freedom to provide services, conditional upon his having the linguistic knowledge necessary for the exercise of his profession in the Member State of establishment.

The reliability of a dental practitioner's communication with his patient and with administrative authorities and professional bodies constitutes an overriding reason of general interest such as to justify making the appointment as a dental practitioner under a social security scheme subject to language requirements. However, it is important that such language requirements do not go beyond what is necessary to attain that objective. In this respect, it is in the interest of patients whose mother tongue is not the national language that there exist a certain number of dental practitioners who are also capable of communicating with such persons in their own language.

( see paras 59-61, and operative part 3 )

Parties

In Case C-424/97,

REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) by the Landgericht Düsseldorf, Germany, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

Salomone Haim

and

Kassenzahnärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein

on the liability of a Member State and, possibly, of a public-law body of that State for loss and damage caused by an infringement of Community law, and on the legality of making the appointment of a national of another Member State as a dental practitioner under a social security scheme conditional upon his having a sufficient knowledge of the language of the host State,

THE COURT,

composed of: G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias, President, D.A.O. Edward (Rapporteur), L. Sevón, R. Schintgen (Presidents of Chambers), P.J.G. Kapteyn, C. Gulmann, J.-P. Puissochet, G. Hirsch, P. Jann, H. Ragnemalm and M. Wathelet, Judges,

Advocate General: J. Mischo,

Registrar: H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

- Mr Haim, by H. Ungewitter, Rechtsanwalt, Düsseldorf,

- the German Government, by E. Röder, Ministerialrat in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, A. Dittrich, Ministerialrat in the Federal Ministry of Justice, and C.-D. Quassowski, Regierungsdirektor in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, acting as Agents,

- the Greek Government, by A. Samoni-Rantou, Legal Adviser to the Community Law Section of the Special Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and S. Vodina and G. Karipsiadis, Legal Assistants in the same department, acting as Agents,

- the Spanish Government, by N. Díaz Abad, Abogado del Estado, acting as Agent,

- the Italian Government, by Professor U. Leanza, Head of the Legal Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, assisted by P.G. Ferri, Avvocato dello Stato,

- the Swedish Government, by E. Brattgård, Departementsråd in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent,

- the United Kingdom Government, by J.E. Collins, Assistant Treasury Solicitor, acting as Agent, and E. Sharpston, Barrister,

- the Commission of the European Communities, by B. Mongin and P. van Nuffel, of its Legal Service, acting as Agents, assisted by B. Wägenbaur, Rechtsanwalt, Hamburg,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Mr Haim, represented by U. Faust, Rechtsanwalt, Aachen; of the Kassenzahnärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein, represented by B. Bellwinkel, Rechtsanwalt, Düsseldorf; of the German Government, represented by A. Dittrich; of the Danish Government, represented by J. Molde, Head of Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent; of the Greek Government, represented by A. Samoni-Rantou and G. Karipsiadis; of the Spanish Government, represented by N. Díaz Abad; of the French Government, represented by A. de Bourgoing, Chargé de Mission in the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent; of the Italian Government, represented by G. Aiello, Avvocato dello Stato; of the Swedish Government, represented by A. Kruse, Departementsråd in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent; of the United Kingdom Government, represented by E. Sharpston...