Action brought on 30 August 2018 — European Commission v Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-556/18)

(2018/C 381/19)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: E. Manhaeve and S. Pardo Quintillán, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

—

Declare, in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, that the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 13(7), read in conjunction with Articles 13(1), 14 and 15(1) of Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, (1) by failing to comply with its public information and consultation obligation to review and update river basin management plans and by failing to adopt, publish and communicate to the Commission the revised and updated river basin management plans for the river basin districts of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and el Hierro.

—	Order the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In accordance with Article 25 of Directive 2000/60/EC, that directive entered into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal, namely on 22 December 2000. As a result, the river basin management plans had to be published, in accordance with Article 13(6) of the directive, by 22 December 2009 at the latest and, in accordance with Article 13(7) thereof, be reviewed and updated for the first time by 22 December 2015 at the latest.

The Commission is of the view that the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under the articles cited above of Directive 2000/60/EC by failing to comply with its public information and consultation obligation to review and update river basin management plans and by failing to adopt, publish and communicate to the Commission the revised and updated river basin management plans for the river basin districts of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and el Hierro within the two-month period set out in its reasoned opinion of 5 October 2017.

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(1)  OJ 2000 L 327, p. 1.