Action brought on 11 September 2007 — Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic Republic

(Case C-416/07)

(2007/C 283/31)

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: Eleni Tserepa-Lacombe and Friedrich Erlbacher)

Defendant: Hellenic Republic

Form of order sought

Pleas in law and main arguments

In this action, the Commission submits that the Hellenic Republic is not implementing correctly certain provisions relating to the protection of animals during transport and at the time of slaughter.

The Commission requests the Court to declare that, by having failed to adopt the legal measures and the necessary administrative measures to comply with the obligations laid down in Article 5(A)(1)(a)(i) and (ii), Article 5(A)(2)(b), the first indent of Article 5(A)(2)(d)(i) and Articles 8, 9 and 18(2) of Council Directive 91/628/EEC of 19 November 1991 on the protection of animals during transport and amending Directives 90/425/EEC and 91/496/EEC, in point 7(b) of Chapter VII of the annex to that directive and, from 5 January 2007, in Articles 5(4), 6(1), 13(3) and (4), 15(1), 25, 26 and 27(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations and amending Directives 64/432/EEC and 93/119/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1255/97 on the protection of animals during transport, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under that legislation.

The Commission also requests the Court to declare that, by having failed to adopt the legal measures and the necessary administrative measures to comply with the obligations laid down in Articles 3, 5(1)(d), 6(1) and 8 of Council Directive 93/119/EC of 22 December 1993 on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter or killing, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under that legislation.

The Commission points out that, in accordance with the Court of Justice's case-law, a failure to fulfil obligations may result from an administrative practice that infringes Community law. In the present action, the Commission relies not on an isolated finding of fact but on a significant number of cases which were discovered by its Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) and constitute a structured and general infringement of the obligations of the Hellenic Republic under the abovementioned provisions.

In particular, the Commission submits that the Hellenic Republic has not adopted all the necessary measures so that any transporter of animals is covered by an authorisation from the competent authority and is registered in a manner enabling the competent authority to identify him rapidly, in particular in the event of failure to comply with the rules governing the proper treatment of animals during transport, so that the competent authorities carry out obligatory checks of the route plan/journey log, so that animal rest facilities are provided for following unloading from vessels, in or near ferry ports, and so as to ensure that inspections of the means of transport and the animals are carried out.

The Commission further submits that the Hellenic Republic has not adopted all the necessary measures to ensure observance of the rules governing the stunning of animals at the time of slaughter and to ensure appropriate inspections and controls in slaughterhouses.

The Commission states that both on expiry of the period set in the reasoned opinion and after that date, and notwithstanding certain efforts on the part of the Greek authorities, the Hellenic Republic had not adopted all the measures necessary to make good the deficiencies alleged against it. The majority of the recommendations addressed to the Greek authorities were not implemented or were implemented inadequately. On the other hand, mission reports paint a very worrying picture regarding implementation of the abovementioned measures.

(1)  OJ L 340, 11.12.1991, p. 17.

(2)  OJ L 3, 5.1.2005, p. 1.

(3)  OJ L 340, 31.12.1993, p. 21.