According to German legislation, access to the liberal profession of notaries (which exists all over Germany with the exception of a part of the Land of Baden-Württemberg) was restricted to nationals. The Commission did not accept the German argument that this restriction was covered by Article 45 (1) TEC (now Article 51 [1] TFEU) and, therefore, brought an action under Article 226 TEC (now Article 258 TFEU) for infringement of Article 43 TEC (now Article 49 TFEU) and failure of transposition of Directive 2005/36.