Order — ECLI:EU:T:1997:121
Date: 1997-07-18
Language of the case: Greek
Court formation: Third Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Food aid;External relations;Oils and fats
Concepts: Proceedings relating to a contract
Procedure: Action for damages - inadmissible
Origin: Greece

Summary of the Order 
Procedure — Action for damages — Failure by the Commission to perform its obligations 
towards successful tenderers for the supply of products as food aid — Contractual basis — Arbi­
tration clause — None — No jurisdiction on the part of the Community judicature 
(EC Treaty, Arts 178, 181 and 183) 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-180/95 
In the context of a dispute between the 
Commission and the successful tenderer for 
a supply of food aid to non-member coun­
tries, a claim for damages against the Com­
mission, on the ground that it failed in its 
duty to ensure that the goods were collected 
by the carrier designated by it within the 
time-limit laid down in the Community leg­
islation and agreed upon between the suc­
cessful tenderer and the Commission, is 
brought on the basis of a contract. Supplies 
of food aid are made on the basis of con­
tracts entered into between the Commission 
and the successful tenderers, so that any 
liability which the Community could incur 
as a result of the organization of the supplies 
in question is also of a contractual nature. 
Consequently, in the absence of an arbitra­
tion clause within the meaning of Article 181 
of the Treaty, the Court of First Instance 
clearly lacks jurisdiction to rule on what is in 
fact an action for compensation arising out 
of a contract, when an action for damages 
based on Article 178 of the Treaty is brought 
before it. Otherwise, it would be extending 
its jurisdiction beyond the limits placed by 
Article 183 of the Treaty on the disputes of 
which it may take cognizance, since that 
article specifically gives the national courts 
ordinary jurisdiction over disputes to which 
the Community is a party. 
I I -1318