Commission of the European Communities v Italian Republic (28/81)

III —Submissions and arguments of the parties

In its application the Commission claims that since directives are binding in character Member States have an obligation to comply with the periods prescribed by them for the adoption of national implementing provisions.An infringement of the Treaty by a Member State exists irrespective of the organ of the State whose act or omissions were the cause of the failure to implement a directive. The Member State in question may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances in its internal legal system in order to justify its conduct.Those principles have been consistently confirmed by the Court in its decisions (see, inter alia, Case 52/75, Commission ν Italy [1976] ECR 277; Case 10/76, Commission ν Italy [1976] ECR 1359; Case 163/78, Commission ν Italy [1979] ECR 771; Case 42/80, Commission ν Italy [1980] ECR 3635; Case 43/80, Commission ν Italy [1980] ECR 3643; Case 44/80, Commission ν Italy [1981] ECR 343; and Case 45/80, Commission ν Italy [1981] ECR 353).In its defence the Italian Government states that the directive in question was included with a view to its implementation in a draft law which is now under consideration by the Tenth Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, which deals with matters relating to road haulage. The draft Law was not submitted to Parliament until 12 December 1980 owing to the detailed scrutiny to which it was first subjected by all the administrative authorities concerned, a scrutiny which was necessarily time-consuming in view of the complexity of the subject-matter.The Italian Government has already asked the authorities concerned to expedite the procedure for approving the draft law. It therefore hopes to have it approved and the corresponding law adopted very shortly, so that the object of the action may be considered to have been eliminated in substance.In its reply the Commission points out that the defence gives no details of the period required for the adoption of the draft law.