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Document 62022CA0582

Case C-582/22,  Die Länderbahn and Others: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 7 March 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgericht Köln – Germany) – Die Länderbahn GmbH DLB, Prignitzer Eisenbahn GmbH, Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH v Federal Republic of Germany (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Rail transport – Directive 2012/34/EU – Access to railway infrastructure – Charges – Article 56 – Single national regulatory body for the railway sector – Powers – Review of the infrastructure charges whose period of application has expired – Power to declare invalidity with effect ex tunc and to order the reimbursement of charges)

OJ C, C/2024/2906, 6.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2906/oj (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, GA, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2906/oj

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C/2024/2906

6.5.2024

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 7 March 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgericht Köln – Germany) – Die Länderbahn GmbH DLB, Prignitzer Eisenbahn GmbH, Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH v Federal Republic of Germany

(Case C-582/22,  (1) Die Länderbahn and Others)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Rail transport - Directive 2012/34/EU - Access to railway infrastructure - Charges - Article 56 - Single national regulatory body for the railway sector - Powers - Review of the infrastructure charges whose period of application has expired - Power to declare invalidity with effect ex tunc and to order the reimbursement of charges)

(C/2024/2906)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Verwaltungsgericht Köln

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Die Länderbahn GmbH DLB, Prignitzer Eisenbahn GmbH, Ostdeutsche Eisenbahn GmbH

Defendant: Federal Republic of Germany

Intervening party: DB Netz AG

Operative part of the judgment

1.

Article 56(1), (6) and (9) of Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area must be interpreted as precluding a Member State’s legislation which excludes any power of the regulatory body, before which a claim is made based on paragraph 1 of that article, from reviewing the lawfulness of the infrastructure charges whose period of application has expired and to declare their invalidity with effect ex tunc.

2.

Article 56(9) of Directive 2012/34 must be interpreted as meaning that it does not require the regulatory body to be able to order itself the reimbursement of infrastructure charges when national law, subject to compliance with the principles of equivalence and effectiveness, confers that power to civil courts.

(1)   OJ C 441, 21.11.2022.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2906/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)


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