C-1/86
ECLI:EU:C:1987:155
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- 61986CC0001
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COMMISSION v BELGIUM
OPINION OF MR ADVOCATE GENERAL MISCHO delivered on 25 March 1987 *
Mr President, of 8 August 1980 transferring to the regions Members of the Court, extensive powers in regard to the envi ronment, the national government no longer has the necessary and sufficient powers to implement the directive whereas the estab lishment of the new institutions and regional administrations could only take place 1. The Commission complains that the progressively, with the result that they were Kingdom of Belgium did not adopt within not immediately operational. the prescribed time-limit the measures necessary to implement throughout its national territory Council Directive 80/68/EEC of 17 December 1979 on the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous substances.
5. It is undeniable, therefore, that the implementation of the directive in Belgium encountered exceptional difficulties. It is 2. A decree of 24 January 1984, together probably for that reason that the with a number of orders of 22 March 1984 Commission allowed an additional four and 27 March 1985, implements (as the years to elapse between the date by which Commission's agent confirmed at the the directive should have been implemented hearing) the main provisions of the (18 December 1981) and the date on which abovementioned directive in respect of the it brought its action (3 January 1986). In the Flemish region. meantime, one of the regions of the Kingdom of Belgium had implemented the directive.
3. However, the agent of the Belgian Government has admitted that the measures designed to implement the provisions of Directive 80/68 in respect of the Walloon and Brussels regions are still being 6. For my part, I can only refer to the considered by the various competent auth settled case-law of the Court according to orities. which 'a Member State may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances existing in its internal legal system in order to justify a failure to comply with obli gations and time-limits resulting from Community directives'. 1 4. The Belgian Government has pointed out that, as a result of the institutional reforms 1 — Sec, for a recent example, the judgment of 10 March 1987 in Case 386/85 Commiuionv v Italy[1987]ECR 1061, 1067, * Translated from the French. paragraph 7, and many earlier judgments.
OPINION OF MR MISCHO — CASE 1/86
7. Consequently, I propose that the Court should:
Declare that, by failing to adopt within the prescribed period the provisions necessary in order to comply with Council Directive 80/68/EEC of 17 December 1979, the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EEC Treaty;
Order the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.