Late this afternoon, the European Court of Justice published it's Judgment in the case opposing the European Commission and Germany.

The case relates to the 'emerging markets' clause which was introduced as § 9a (Regulierung neuer Märkte) in the German Telecommunications Act in February 2007.

The key paragraph 108 of the Judgment is as follows:

It follows from all of the foregoing considerations that, by adopting Paragraph 9a of the TKG, the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 8(4) of the Access Directive, Articles 6 to 8(1) and (2), 15(3) and 16 of the Framework Directive and Article 17(2) of the Universal Service Directive. 

The full text of the Judgment can be accessed by clicking here.

For background on this case, please search on Germany on this website. We covered the details extensively in 2006/7.