Action brought on 9 February 2005 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Republic of Finland

(Case C-54/05)

(2005/C 93/21)

Language of the case: Finnish

An action against the Republic of Finland was brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 9 February 2005 by the Commission of the European Communities, represented by M. van Beek and M. Huttunen, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg.

The Commission claims that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

It follows from the provisions of Regulation 1598/1995 on the registration of vehicles, in force in Finland, that a person permanently resident in Finland is obliged to apply for a temporary transfer licence for a vehicle previously lawfully registered and insured in another Member State when the vehicle is imported or transferred through Finland to another Member State or a non-member country. A person permanently resident in Finland may not thus use a vehicle previously registered and insured in another Member State in Finland without a transfer licence. Obtaining a transfer licence requires for its part that a person living in Finland importing a vehicle registered in another Member State stops at the frontier crossing point, where he can apply for the transfer licence and pay the fees for the licence. He cannot use the vehicle in Finland until the transfer licence is granted. A transfer licence is usually granted for seven days, after which the importer of the vehicle must register the vehicle in the Finnish vehicle traffic register if he wishes to use the vehicle in Finland other than temporarily under the transfer licence.

Under Article 28 EC, quantitative restrictions on imports and all measures having equivalent effect are prohibited between Member States.

Since a person living in Finland, when importing a vehicle registered in another Member State or transferring it through Finland to another Member State or a non-member country, has to stop at the Finnish frontier in order to apply for a transfer licence for the vehicle, the vehicle becomes the object of systematic frontier checks which clearly satisfy the characteristics of the quantitative restrictions on imports or measures having equivalent effect referred to in Article 28 EC.

Finland has not adduced any grounds to show that the only method of ensuring the effectiveness of monitoring is the application of a transfer licence system which in practice means, for a person permanently resident in Finland, a systematic obligation to comply with special frontier formalities, that is, an obligation to stop at the nearest frontier crossing point and apply for a transfer licence without any statutory guarantee that it will be possible for a vehicle lawfully registered, insured and tested in another Member State to be used in Finland. Such systematic frontier formalities are a fundamental restriction on the free movement of goods.

Should the Court of Justice consider that the transfer licence system could in general be based on Article 30 EC (quod non), the Commission submits that the seven-day period of validity of the transfer licence in accordance with the main provision of the regulation is in any event unreasonably short.

Having regard to the above points of view, the Commission submits that the transfer licence system in force in Finland under Regulation 1598/1995 is contrary to Articles 28 EC and 30 EC. Should the Court of Justice consider that the transfer licence system could in general be based on Article 30 EC, the Commission submits that the seven-day period of validity of the transfer licence in accordance with the main provision of the regulation is in any event contrary to Articles 28 EC and 30 EC.