Luxembourg, 04/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling whereby the European Court of Justice has condemned Austria, the Member State concerned recognises that this condemnation is a means of pressure against a region or a Land which is dragging its feet in transposing an EU directive. The matter concerns the transposition of a 1998 directive on worker protection against risks linked to carcinogenic chemical agents. The Austrian government said during the procedure that only condemnation of the Austrian Republic by the European Court of Justice would allow it to force a reticent Land, Carinthia, to proceed to transposition of the directive.
The Austrian government told European judges that it had kept the Land "permanently" informed of the fact that it should transpose the directive, but to no avail.
Austria, against which the European Commission has taken action for not having transposed the directive throughout its territory, stated that, in the fields that come under the competence of the Länder, it could not transpose an EU directive in the place of the Länder, and that condemnation by the Court would allow it to make Carinthia face up to its responsibilities.
The Court rules against Austria because, in European law, it is still the Member State that is condemned, but never its regions or its Länder. It recalls in this ruling that a Member State cannot invoke difficulties arising from its federal organisation as an excuse for not transposing an EU directive.