Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 29 September 2016 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Nederlandstalige rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Brussel — Belgium) — Essent Belgium NV v Vlaams Gewest, Inter-Energa and Others

(Case C-492/14) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Regional legislation requiring the distribution, through the systems located in the region concerned, of electricity produced from renewable energy sources to be free of charge - Different treatment depending on the origin of the green electricity - Articles 28 EC and 30 EC - Free movement of goods - Directive 2001/77/EC - Articles 3 and 4 - National support mechanisms for the production of green energy - Directive 2003/54/EC - Articles 3 and 20 - Directive 96/92/EC - Articles 3 and 16 - Internal market in electricity - Access to distribution systems on non-discriminatory tariff conditions - Public service obligations - Lack of proportionality))

(2017/C 046/02)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Nederlandstalige rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Brussel

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Essent Belgium NV

Defendants: Vlaams Gewest, Inter-Energa, IVEG, Infrax West, Provinciale Brabantse Energiemaatschappij CVBA (PBE), Vlaamse Regulator van de Elektriciteits- en Gasmarkt (VREG)

Interveners: Intercommunale Maatschappij voor Energievoorziening Antwerpen (IMEA), Intercommunale Maatschappij voor Energievoorziening in West- en Oost-Vlaanderen (IMEWO), Intercommunale Vereniging voor Energielevering in Midden-Vlaanderen (Intergem), Intercommunale Vereniging voor de Energiedistributie in de Kempen en het Antwerpse (IVEKA), Iverlek, Gaselwest CVBA, Sibelgas CVBA

Operative part of the judgment

The provisions of Articles 28 EC and 30 EC, and of Article 3(2) and (8) and Article 20(1) of Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC, Article 3(2) and (3) and Article 16 of Directive 96/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity, and Articles 3 and 4 of Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, read together, must be interpreted as precluding legislation such as the besluit van de Vlaamse regering tot wijziging van het besluit van de Vlaamse regering van 28 september 2001 (Decision of the Flemish Government amending the Decision of the Flemish Government of 28 September 2001) of 4 April 2003, and the besluit van de Vlaamse regering inzake de bevordering van elektriciteitsopwekking uit hernieuwbare energiebronnen (Decision of the Flemish Government promoting the production of electricity from renewable energy sources) of 5 March 2004, which imposes a scheme for the free distribution of green electricity through the distribution systems in the region concerned, while limiting the benefit of that scheme, in the case of the first decision, solely to green electricity fed directly into those distribution systems by the generating installations and, in the case of the second decision, solely to green electricity fed directly by such installations into the distribution systems in the Member State to which that region belongs.

(1)  OJ C 34, 2.2.2015.