Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 17 July 2008.

Subject of the case

Operative part

Subject of the case

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Breach of Articles 43 EC and 56 EC – National law making the acquisition of certain shareholdings in undertakings which carry on regulated activities in the energy sector subject to prior approval of a special commission.

Operative part

Operative part

The Court:

1Declares that, by adopting the first indent of the second paragraph of the single article of the fourteenth function of the National Energy Commission provided for in Supplementary Provision No 11, part 3, point 1, of Law 34/1998 of 7 October 1998 on the hydrocarbon sector (Ley 34/1998, del sector de hidrocarburos), as amended by Royal Decree-Law 4/2006 of 24 February 2006 (Real Decreto-Ley 4/2006), in order to make the acquisition of certain shareholdings in undertakings which carry on certain regulated activities in the energy sector and the acquisition of the assets necessary to carry on such activities subject to the prior approval of the National Energy Commission, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 43 EC and 56 EC;

2Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.