Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2013:36
Date: 2013-01-24
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Action for annulment;Appeal - unfounded;Appeal - inadmissible;Judgment delivered after back reference
Origin: Denmark

summary of the pleas in law on which it is based. 66 In the present instance, it is apparent from 3F’s pleadings before the General Court that the line of argument put forward by it at first instance concerning infringement of the principle of good administration was not supported at all by separate considerations, but was linked exclusively to the line of argument concerning the alleged infringement of Article 88(2) EC. 67 Thus, although, in the application initiating proceedings, the title of the first plea mentions the principle of good administration, paragraph 42 of the application, which concludes the line of argument concerning that plea, merely states that, ‘by failing to open the Article 88(2) [EC] procedure the Commission infringed that [provision] as applied by the case-law and the principle of good administration’, without explaining precisely in what respect the failure to open the formal investigation procedure constitutes an infringement of that principle. 68 Likewise, in paragraph 15 of its reply before the General Court, 3F merely states, in respect of that principle, that the issue is whether, ‘having regard to the complexity of the issues, the time spent on these issues and the fact as the Commission now reveals other cases involved the same “important question of principle”, the Commission should have opened a formal investigation in which all Member States and interested parties could submit comments’. 69 Furthermore, as is apparent from paragraph 69 of the judgment under appeal, in the same paragraph of the reply 3F itself stated that the question as to whether the duration of the preliminary examination was reasonable was not raised in the present case. 70 Accordingly, since 3F did not set out in its action before the General Court any specific line of argument concerning infringement of the principle of good administration that was separate from the line of argument relating to infringement of Article 88(2) EC, the General Court cannot be reproached for having dismissed the plea alleging infringement of the principle of good administration without stating specific reasons in the judgment under appeal in that regard. 71 Also, in so far as, by its arguments set out in the alternative, 3F now seeks to put forward separate and specific grounds to demonstrate that the Commission infringed the principle of good administration, essentially alleging that the duration of the preliminary examination stage was unreasonable, it is to be recalled that, according to Article 170(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, the subject-matter of the proceedings before the General Court may not be changed in the appeal. The Court of Justice’s jurisdiction in an appeal is confined to a review of the findings of law on the pleas argued before the General Court. A party may not, therefore, put forward for the first time before the Court of Justice a plea which it could have raised before the General Court but has not raised, since to do so would be to allow it to bring before the Court of Justice, whose jurisdiction in appeals is limited, a case of wider ambit than that which came before the General Court (see judgment of 29 September 2011 in Case C‑520/09 P Arkema v Commission, not yet published in the ECR, paragraph 64 and the case-law cited). 72 As to the remainder, in so far as, by these arguments advanced in the alternative, 3F alleges that the Commission infringed the principle of good administration because the formal investigation procedure was not initiated, suffice it to state that 3F merely repeats, without identifying the passages of the judgment under appeal that are supposedly wrong in law, the arguments put forward before the General Court. 73 According to settled case-law, an appeal which merely repeats or reproduces verbatim the pleas in law and arguments submitted to the General Court, including those based on facts expressly rejected by that Court, does not satisfy the requirements to state reasons under the second subparagraph of Article 256(1) TFEU, the first paragraph of Article 58 of the Statute of the Court of Justice and Articles 168(1)(d) and 169(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, requirements which are recalled in paragraph 51 of the present judgment. Such an appeal amounts in reality to no more than a request for re-examination of the application submitted to the General Court, which the Court of Justice does not have jurisdiction to undertake (see, inter alia, Bergaderm and Goupil v Commission, paragraph 35, and Comunità montana della Valnerina v Commission, paragraph 106 and the case-law cited). 74 Consequently, the third plea must be dismissed as partly inadmissible and partly unfounded. 75 Having regard to all the foregoing considerations, the appeal must be dismissed in its entirety. Costs 76 In accordance with Article 184(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, where the appeal is unfounded the Court is to make a decision as to the costs. 77 Under Article 138(1) of those Rules, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the successful party’s pleadings. Since the Commission has applied for costs and 3F has been unsuccessful, the latter must be ordered to pay the costs of the present case. 78 Under Article 140(1) of those Rules, Member States which have intervened in the proceedings are to bear their own costs. The Kingdom of Denmark must therefore be ordered to bear its own costs. On those grounds, the Court (Eighth Chamber) hereby: 1. Dismisses the appeal; 2. Orders Falles Fagligt Forbund (3F) to pay the costs; 3. Orders the Kingdom of Denmark to bear its own costs. [Signatures] * Language of the case: English.