Acção de incumprimento contra Portugal. Liberdade de estabelecimento. Inspecção de veículos

IP/06/1795
Brussels, 13 December 2006

The European Commission has taken action to put an end to obstacles to the freedom of establishment in Germany and Portugal. The Commission has decided to refer Germany to the European Court of Justice over its authorisation rules for vehicle inspection organisations, in particular the requirement for compulsory affiliation of a minimum number of (self-employed) independent experts. On the same subject, the Commission will formally request Portugal to amend its rules on the granting of authorisations to bodies of other Member States wishing to carry on vehicle inspection activities in Portugal. This formal request takes the form of a “reasoned opinion”, the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. The Commission considers these national rules to be incompatible with EC Treaty rules on the freedom of establishment (Article 43).

Portugal – establishment of vehicle inspection bodies
According to Portuguese legislation, bodies wishing to carry on vehicle inspection activities in Portugal need an authorisation which may be granted under certain conditions, which the Commission considers excessively restrictive and incompatible with the freedom of establishment. The conditions in question are the granting of new authorisations depending on the public interest, the obligation to have a minimum social capital of 100,000 EUR, the imposition of an exclusive object requirement on the company, and incompatibility rules concerning partners, managers and administrators of these companies with other activities in the area of car manufacturing.

The Commission cannot accept the argument of the Portuguese authorities that the restrictions are covered by Article 45(1) of the EC Treaty as the activities concerned are not connected with the exercise of official authority. Furthermore, the Commission cannot accept that the restrictions are justified by imperative reasons relating to road safety and fraud prevention, as there are other less restrictive measures to attain these objectives, such as appropriate controls on these bodies.

The latest information on infringement proceedings concerning all Member States is available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/eulaw/index_en.htm