Report for the Hearing in Case 0-313/89

I — The legislation applicable and background to the dispute

A — The legislation applicable

1. The Community legislation

2. The national provisions

B — Background to the dispute

By a letter dated 3 May 1988, the Commission drew the attention of the Kingdom of Spain to its obligation to transpose Directive 80/155/EEC of 21 January 1980 (hereinafter referred to as the Directive) into national law.

In the letter the Commission claimed that after its accession to the European Communities Spain had continued to award midwifery diplomas in accordance with the provisions of the Decree of 18 January 1957, which did not meet the requirements of the Directive.

With regard to Royal Decree 992/1987 of 3 July 1987, the Commission considered that the said Decree determined neither the duration nor the content of midwifery training and that as a consequence it could not be considered that the Spanish authorities had taken the measures necessary to transpose the Directive.

The Commission also stated that the Royal Decree did not indicate the manner in which the Spanish authorities would bring midwifery diplomas awarded since accession into conformity with the Directive.

Finally, the Commission observed that the arrangements for the award of diplomas set out in the first and second transitional provisions of the Royal Decree did not comply with the Directive.

The Spanish Government did not respond to this letter.

In accordance with the first paragraph of Article 169 of the EEC Treaty, the Commission delivered a reasoned opinion on 19 April 1989 reiterating the arguments contained in its letter of 3 May 1988.

Since the reasoned opinion produced no reaction, the Commission lodged the present application for a declaration of failure to fulfil obligations at the Court Registry on 11 October 1989.

Upon hearing the report of the Judge-Rapporteur and the views of the Advocate General, the Court decided to open the oral procedure without any preliminary inquiry.

II — Conclusions of the parties

The Commission claims that the Court should:

The Kingdom of Spain contends that the Court should:

III — Summary of the submissions and arguments of the parties

A — The obligations of the Kingdom of Spain

B — The failure to transpose the Directive within the prescribed period

1 Language of the case: Spanish.