Action brought on 8 July 2010 — European Commission v Hellenic Republic

(Case C-346/10)

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2010/C 246/52

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: G. Zavvos)

Defendant: Hellenic Republic

Form of order sought

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Commission contends that the fact that the grant of new licences for commercial vehicles is dependent upon the ‘country’s transport needs’, which are not defined objectively, restricts the freedom of establishment of road hauliers in Greece and, given that the restrictions in question are not justified on grounds of public policy, public security or public health, Article 4(3)(a) of Law 383/1976 infringes Article 49 TFEU (formerly Article 43 EC).

The Commission further submits that the obligation to impose defined carriage charges with upper and lower limits, first, discourages access of foreign undertakings to the road haulage market and/or to the Greek market for trade in petroleum products and, second, prevents undertakings already established in Greece from developing their activities as they are denied the possibility of effective competition with the undertakings already firmly on the market, a result which, in accordance with the Court of Justice’s case-law, infringes the freedom of establishment. This setting of rates and conditions for carriage is not consistent with Article 96(2) TFEU (as the Commission has not granted the requisite authorisation) and does not serve to protect vulnerable sectors of the economy and remote areas, whilst the setting by the Greek State of only minimum limits in respect of the charge for carriage of liquid fuels by commercial road vehicles is not consistent with the rules of free competition and must therefore be abolished immediately.

In addition, the Commission contends that Law 3054/2002 enables the Greek Government to control the number of private tankers on the road and the provision in question therefore infringes freedom of establishment, being one of that body of Greek legislative provisions which ultimately seek not only to preserve the closed nature of the profession of petroleum goods transporter but also to preserve the power of every company operating on that market. The administrative setting of the number of tankers of companies trading in petroleum products is not necessary for the adaptation of those undertakings to market conditions and is not justified on grounds of public security (road safety) and public health.

The Commission submits that the Hellenic Republic has not put forward sufficient explanation and details to justify the adoption of the foregoing restrictions, so that Article 4 of Law 383/1976 and Articles 6 and 7 of Law 3054/2002 together with the ministerial decisions concerning implementation of those laws and the imposition of set charges (between certain limits) for the transport services which are provided by commercial vehicles infringe Article 49 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (formerly Article 43 EC).