Commissie brengt Spanje voor het Hof inzake vrijheid van vestiging (en)
The Commission has decided to refer Spanish rules on the establishment of commercial premises, which it regards as incompatible with Article 43 of the EC Treaty, to the Court of Justice.
In a reasoned opinion of 23 October 2007 the Commission formally requested Spain to remove obstacles to freedom of establishment in the field of distribution services resulting from its rules at national level and the rules of one of its autonomous communities concerning the establishment of commercial premises. It takes the view that the Spanish and Catalan commercial town-planning rules, which provide for an authorisation procedure and, in the case of the Catalan rules, a number of planning documents for the setting-up of commercial premises, do not comply with Article 43 of the EC Treaty on freedom of establishment since they contain a number of particularly restrictive elements: they involve a particularly complicated and restrictive procedure, much of which is based on considerations of a commercial nature such as the needs of the market and the impact of the new commercial premises on existing traders; the criteria applied are insufficiently self-evident and objective; and the Catalan rules allow for participation, albeit indirect, in the decision-making process by representatives of the economic interests already installed.
In their replies the Spanish and Catalan authorities announced that they would amend their rules but did not specify what changes they envisaged nor what the exact timetable for adoption would be. As a result, the Commission has decided to refer the matter to the Court of Justice.
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