Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 28 July 2011 – Commission v Austria

(Case C-548/10)

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Directive 2007/2/EC – Environmental policy – Infrastructure for spatial information in the European Community (INSPIRE) – Exchange and updating of data in electronic format – Incomplete transposition

Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Examination of the merits by the Court – Situation to be taken into consideration – Situation on expiry of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (Art. 258 TFEU) (see para. 10)

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Failure to adopt or communicate, within the prescribed period, all the measures necessary to comply with Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in the European Community (INSPIRE) (OJ 2007 L 108, p. 1).

Operative part

The Court:

1.

Declares that, by failing to adopt, within the period prescribed, all the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, the Republic of Austria has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

2.

Orders the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.