Action brought on 4 December 2008 — Commission of the European Communities v Republic of Poland

(Case C-545/08)

(2009/C 82/18)

Language of the case: Polish

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by A. Nijenhuis and K. Mojzesowicz, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Poland

Form of order sought

Pleas in law and main arguments

By regulating retail tariffs for broadband access services without carrying out a prior market analysis, the Republic of Poland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 16 and 17 of Directive 2002/22/EC in conjunction with Articles 16 and 27 of Directive 2002/21/EC.

First, the obligations imposed on Telekomunikacja Polska by the President of the Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej, namely the requirement of submission by the undertaking of retail tariffs for broadband access services for approval by the national regulatory authority and the requirement that the tariffs are determined on the basis of the costs of providing the services, two years after the entry into force in Poland of the binding Community provisions, constitute new obligations and not the maintenance in force of existing obligations.

Second, the regulatory obligations concerning retail broadband access services imposed on Telekomunikacja Polska by the President of the Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej cannot, according to the Commission, be regarded as transitional measures within the meaning of Article 27 of the Framework Directive, since Article 17 of Directive 98/10/EC, mentioned in Article 27, concerns only tariffs for the use of the fixed public telephone network and fixed public telephone services.

(1)  Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive), OJ 2002 L 108, p. 51.

(2)  Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework Directive), OJ 2002 L 108, p. 33.