Order — ECLI:EU:T:1998:107
Date: 1998-05-14
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Third Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Competition;Agreements, decisions and concerted practices;Dominant position
Concepts: Admissibility and examination of applications, forms of order sought and pleas in law
Procedure: Action for annulment - inadmissible;Action for damages - inadmissible
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Order
Procedure — Application initiating proceedings — Procedural requirements — Identification of
the subject-matter of the proceedings — Brief statement of the grounds relied on — Application
seeking compensation for damage caused by a Community institution
(EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 19; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance,
Art. 44(1)(c))
Under Article 19 of the Statute of the Court
of Justice and Article 44(1 )(c) of the Rules of
Procedure of the Court of First Instance, all
applications must indicate the subject-matter
of the proceedings and include a brief state­
ment of the grounds relied on. The infor­
mation given must be sufficiently clear and
precise to enable the defendant to prepare its
defence and the Court of First Instance to
decide the case, if appropriate without other
information. In order to ensure legal cer­
tainty and the sound administration of
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SUMMARY — CASE T-262/97
justice, if an action is to be admissible the
essential facts and law on which it is based
must be apparent from the text of the appli­
cation itself, even if only stated briefly, pro­
vided the statement is coherent and compre­
hensible.
In order to satisfy those requirements, an
application seeking compensation for dam­
age caused by a Community institution must
state the evidence from which the conduct
alleged against the institution can be identi­
fied, the reasons for which the applicant con­
siders that there is a causal link between the
conduct and the damage it claims to have
suffered, and the nature and extent of that
damage.
Although, in special circumstances, it is not
essential to specify the exact extent of the
damage in the application and to state the
amount of compensation sought, the appli­
cant must establish, or at least indicate, the
existence of any such circumstances in the
application.
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