Commission of the European Communities v. Kingdom of Belgium

On December 12, 1977, the European Community Council (ECC) issued a directive requiring all member states to coordinate their laws regarding credit institutions by December 15, 1979. The Kingdom of Belgium (Belgium) (defendant) participated in the adoption of the directive but did not meet this deadline. Approximately two years after the deadline, the Commission of the European Communities (commission) (plaintiff) sent Belgium a reasoned opinion requesting that Belgium comply with the directive within two months. When Belgium failed to do so, on November 30, 1981, the commission sued Belgium in the European Court of Justice, seeking a declaration that Belgium failed to comply with the directive as required by the European Economic Community (EEC) Treaty (also known as the Treaty of Rome). Belgium responded that (1) local legal and political conditions prevented it from timely compliance, (2) the reasoned opinion’s two-month deadline was unreasonable, (3) the directive’s initial 24-month deadline period was inadequate, and (4) it did not fully understand the directive. Additionally, Belgium argued that certain existing legislation brought it into compliance. However, this legislation did not embody some requirements imposed by the directive, such as a requirement that (1) Belgian authorities collaborate with authorities in other member states and (2) credit-institution branches be allowed to use the same names in Belgium that they used in their home offices in other member states. Also, Belgium cited only existing legislation during the litigation. Finally, Belgium did not formally notify the commission that such legislation purportedly brought Belgium into compliance with the directive.