5.3.2005   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 57/6

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Sixth Chamber)

of 13 January 2005

in Case C-38/03: Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations - Article 28 EC - Measures having equivalent effect - Wheelchairs - Admission to the reimbursement system under the social security scheme)

(2005/C 57/11)

Language of the case: French

In Case C-38/03: Commission of the European Communities (Agents: L. Ström and F. Simonetti) v Kingdom of Belgium (Agent: initially A. Snoecx, then E. Dominkovits) supported by Kingdom of Spain (Agent: L. Fraguas Gadea) – ACTION under Article 226 EC for failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 3 February 2003 – the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: A. Borg Barthet, President of Chamber, J.-P. Puissochet and S. von Bahr (Rapporteur), Judges; M. Poiares Maduro, Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, gave a judgment on 13 January 2005, in which it:

1.

Declares that,

—

by laying down the technical criteria to be met by wheelchairs in order to be eligible for reimbursement by social security in such a way as to exclude from the list of reimbursable wheelchairs those bearing EC markings but which do not meet the relevant criteria, namely, as regards the diameter of the front and rear wheels, the cover and filling of the seat and back, the dimensions of the flat sections and crossbars, head rests and/or foot or leg rests;

—

by laying down more general criteria which the economic operator must meet in order to be included on the list of reimbursable wheelchairs, namely special conditions for manual wheelchairs, as well as special conditions for power wheelchairs according to which such wheelchairs must be available in a minimum number of seat sizes;

—

by being too rigid in its updating of the list of equipment admitted to the reimbursement scheme,

the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 28 EC.

2.

Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.

3.

Orders the Kingdom of Spain to bear its own costs.

(1)  OJ C 70, 22.03.2003.