Editing European Court of Justice (section)

===Actions for failure to fulfil obligations: infringement procedure===
Under Article 258 (ex Article 226) of the [[Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union]], the Court of Justice may determine whether a Member State has fulfilled its obligations under Union law.

That action may be brought by the commission – as is practically always the case – or by another member state, although the cases of the latter kind remain extremely rare. Only six interstate cases have been decided by the court:<ref>First four mentioned in [http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2012-10/cp120131en.pdf Press release of the Court after the ''Hungary v. Slovakia'' judgement, note 2]. Fifth added in [http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/nov/eu-meijers-cttee-opinion-interstate-procedures-the-rule-of-law.pdf Opinion of the Meijers Committee on interstate procedures and the rule of law, 06 November 2019]</ref>
*''France v. United Kingdom'' (case C-141/78), judgement of 14 October 1979 ({{ECLI|ECLI:EU:C:1979:225}}) on a British unilateral fishery protection measure, infringement because UK had to consult and seek approval of commission
*''Belgium v. Spain'' (case C-388/95), judgement of 16 May 2000 ({{ECLI|ECLI:EU:C:2000:244}}) on a Spanish regulation ordering wine to be bottled in the region of production if it is using the designation of origin, no infringement because it is an authorised and justifiable restriction on the free movement of goods
*''Spain v. United Kingdom'' (case C-145/04), judgement of 12 September 2006 ({{ECLI|ECLI:EU:C:2006:543}}) on Commonwealth voting rights in Gibraltar, no infringement
*''Hungary v. Slovakia'' (case C-364/10), judgement of 16 October 2012 ({{ECLI|ECLI:EU:C:2012:630}}): [[2009 ban of Hungarian President from Slovakia|Slovakia denies entry to Hungarian president]], no infringement
*''Austria v. Germany'' (case C-591/17), judgement of 18 June 2019 ({{ECLI|ECLI:EU:C:2019:504}}) on the discriminatory German tax relief on the motor vehicle tax; infringement.
*''Slovenia v. Croatia'' (case C-457/18), judgement of 31 January 2020 ({{ECLI|ECLI:EU:C:2020:65}}) on [[Croatia–Slovenia border disputes|their border dispute]].

The commencement of proceedings before the Court of Justice is preceded by a preliminary procedure conducted by the commission, which gives the Member State the opportunity to reply to the complaints against it. The court has decided that if the European Commission does not send the formal letter to the violating member state no-one can force them.<ref>[http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/infringement_procedings_fail_to Infringement Proceedings: Fail to Act (Article 258 TFUE) -> Complaints (Article 265 LT) - Overview of Requests].</ref> If that procedure does not result in termination of the failure by the Member State, an action for breach of [[Law of the European Union|Union law]] may be brought before the Court of Justice.

If the Court finds that an obligation has not been fulfilled, the Member State concerned must terminate the breach without delay. If, after new proceedings are initiated by the commission, the Court of Justice finds that the Member State concerned has not complied with its judgment, it may, upon the request of the commission, impose on the Member State a fixed or a periodic financial penalty under Article 260 of the TFEU.<ref>Repubblica italiana, Senato della Repubblica, [http://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/00946917.pdf ''Gli oneri finanziari del contenzioso con l'Unione europea'']</ref>