Order;Information — ECLI:EU:T:2021:117
Date: 2021-03-04
Language of the case: English
Subject matter: Research and technological development
Procedure: Action for annulment - inadmissible

Order of the General Court (Tenth Chamber) of 4 March 2021 – NEC OncoImmunity v EASME (Case T‑132/20) (Action for annulment – Framework Programme for Research and Innovation ‘Horizon 2020’ (2014-2020) – Grant agreement – Termination letter – Act coming within a purely contractual framework from which it is inseparable – Inadmissibility – Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013 – Loss of SME status) 1. Action for annulment – Actionable measures – Definition – Measures producing binding legal effects – Action relating in reality to a contractual dispute – Lack of jurisdiction of the EU judicature – Inadmissibility (Arts 263, 274 and 288 TFEU) (see paras 39-43) 2. Action for annulment – Actionable measures – Definition – Measures producing binding legal effects – Action relating in reality to a contractual dispute – Letter from the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises terminating the grant agreement concluded in the context of a framework programme for research and innovation – Act intended to produce binding effects outside the contractual framework and involving the exercise of the prerogatives of public authority – Precluded (Arts 263, 274 and 288 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1291/2013, Art. 53(2)) (see paras 47-52, 55, 56) 3. Action for annulment – Actionable measures –Definition – Measures producing binding legal effects – Action relating in reality to a contractual dispute – Letter from the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises terminating the grant agreement concluded in the context of a framework programme for research and innovation – Act intended to produce binding effects outside the contractual framework and involving the exercise of the prerogatives of public authority – Jurisdiction of the EU judicature – Need for an arbitration clause conferring such jurisdiction – Replacement of the arbitration clause stipulated in the grant agreement by letters exchanged between the parties. –Precluded (Art. 272 TFEU) (see paras 57, 59, 61, 63) Re: Application based on Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment of the decision allegedly contained in EASME’s letter No Ares (2019) 7905893 of 23 December 2019 terminating the grant agreement concluded under the ‘Horizon 2020’ framework programme for research and innovation (2014-2020) and, in the alternative, an application based on Article 272 TFEU, seeking a declaration that the terms of that agreement were breached. Operative part 1. The action as dismissed as inadmissible. 2. NEC OncoImmunity AS is ordered to pay the costs.