Infringement Procedure against a Defaulting Member State

Abstract

The obligations of Member States are, first of all, embodied in the Treaties, in the Treaty of Accession and in the various binding Community acts, of whatever nature they may be. In this connection, EEC Treaty Article 171 should be specifically mentioned, obliging Member States to implement the Court’s judgment determining an infringement. Moreover, obligations of Member States created by treaties concluded by the Community with third States¹³ or with international organizations may also fall under the infringement procedure of the EEC Treaty Article 169 as may conventions concluded by Member States, under the EEC Treaty Article 220. At first, it may be questioned whether obligations created by the conventions could, because of their origin, be considered as Community obligations, subject to Community infringement procedure. The fact that the Community is technically not party to these conventions and, moreover, that such conventions require an approval by the Member States, according to their respective constitutional provisions, would seem to exclude it. On the other hand, the conclusion of such conventions is a Community obligation under the EEC Treaty Article 220. Being closely associated with the pursuit of Community objectives, these conventions could be considered as part of the Community legal order. This appears to be confirmed by the exclusive competence of the Court to interpret their provisions, set by a special protocol, in a procedure following with slight modifications that of the EEC Treaty Article 177.¹⁴ The Court has not yet ruled on an infringement of such a convention but it could be assumed that because of the close relation of these conventions with the Community legal order, it may recognize its jurisdiction to determine even such an infringement.