IP/07/902
Brussels, 27 June 2007
Internal market: infringement proceedings against France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain and the United Kingdom
The European Commission has decided to refer France and Luxembourg to the European Court of Justice over their failure to communicate to the Commission their respective lists of 'Community design courts', as required by the Regulation on Community Designs. The Commission has also decided, under Article 228 of the EC Treaty, to send a reasoned opinion to Spain and a letter of formal notice to Ireland asking those Member States for full information on their execution of previous Court judgements relating to implementation of the Directive on rental and lending rights. Finally the Commission has formally requested the United Kingdom to ensure correct implementation in its national law of the Directive on rental and lending rights. This request takes the form of a 'reasoned opinion', the second stage of the infringement procedure under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.
Community design courts – France and Luxembourg
The Commission has decided to refer France and Luxembourg to the European Court of Justice following their failure to comply with Council Regulation 6/2002 on Community Designs.
According to this Regulation, Member States have to designate in their territories the national courts and tribunals of first and second instance (Community design courts) which are to perform the functions assigned to them by that Regulation. The deadline for communicating to the Commission the respective list of Community design courts expired already on 6 March 2005.
Ireland, Spain and United Kingdom – Directive on rental and lending rights
The Commission has decided, under Article 228 of the EC Treaty, to send a reasoned opinion to Spain and a letter of formal notice to Ireland concerning those Member States' execution of European Court of Justice judgements relating to their implementation of Articles 1 and 5 of Directive 92/100/EEC on rental and lending rights (today codified in Directive 2006/115/EC). This Directive stipulates that authors must obtain remuneration when their works are used for public lending in a library and that certain, but not all, categories of establishments may be exempted from the payment of this remuneration.
The Commission has also decided, under Article 226 of the EC Treaty, to send a reasoned opinion to the United Kingdom concerning certain limitations provided for in Section 67 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988, which would not fulfil the conditions requested in the Directive on rental and lending rights. This Directive authorises limitations to the right of communication to the public (Article 8(2)) under certain strict conditions (Article 10).
The latest information on infringement proceedings concerning all Member States can be found at:
