Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1 . Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations - Subject-matter of the dispute - Determined during the pre-litigation procedure - Fixed definitively in the application to the Court - Subsequent enlargement - Inadmissible

( EEC Treaty, Art . 169 )

2 . Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations - Pre-litigation procedure - Reasoned opinion - Time-limit communicated to the Member State - Undertaking to remedy the failure - Not met within the time-limit - Onus of proof lies on the Commission

( EEC Treaty, Art . 169 )

Summary

1 . The subject-matter of an application under Article 169 of the Treaty is limited to that defined during the pre-litigation procedure provided for by that article . Consequently, the formal notice of complaint and the reasoned opinion issued by the Commission, on the one hand, and the application, on the other, must be based on the same arguments and submissions . In so far as the application concerns complaints not raised during the pre-litigation procedure, it is inadmissible, as is a complaint set before the Court without first having been set out in the application .

2 . Under the second paragraph of Article 169 of the Treaty an application for a declaration that a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations may only be made to the Court if the Member State concerned has not complied with the reasoned opinion within the period laid down by the Commission . If in its reply the Member State to which the reasoned opinion is addressed has undertaken to remedy the alleged failure, it is for the Commission to show that, despite that undertaking, the failure persisted after the expiry of that period . In the absence of such proof the application is unfounded .