Opinion of Mr Advocate General

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. As nothing new was revealed at the hearing and the facts are not in dispute I can deliver my Opinion forthwith and it will be very brief.

2. Article 8 of Council Directive 82/470/EEC of 29 June 1982 on measures to facilitate the effective exercise of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services in respect of activities of self-employed persons in certain services incidental to transport and travel agencies (ISIC Group 718) and in storage and warehousing (ISIC Group 720) provides that Member States are to adopt the measures necessary to comply with the directive within 18 months of its notification and are to inform the Commission thereof forthwith. The 18 month period expired on 2 January 1984.

3. The Italian Government acknowledges that it has not fulfilled its obligations but points out that a draft law to implement the directive is being prepared.

4. That circumstance does not excuse the fault which is complained of. As the Court has consistently held, a Member State may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances existing in its own legal system in order to justify a failure to comply with obligations and time-limits laid down by directives.

5. Consequently, I suggest that the Court declare that by failing to adopt within the prescribed period the provisions necessary to comply with Council Directive 82/470 of 29 June 1982 the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EEC Treaty, and order it to pay the costs pursuant to Article 69 (2) of the Rules of Procedure.

1 Translated from die French.

2 OJ L 213, 21.7. 1982, p. 1.

3 Judgment of 24 November 1987 in Case 125/86 Commission v Italian Republic [1987] ECR 4669, at paragraph 6; see also, more recently, the judgment of 14 January 1988 in Joined Cases 227 to 230/85 Commission v Belgium [1988] ECR 1, at paragraph 10, or the judgment of 27 April 1988 in Case 225/86 Commission v Italy [1988] ECR 2271, at paragraph 10.