Order — ECLI:EU:T:2003:274
Date: 2003-10-20
Language of the case: Italian
Court formation: President of the Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (1951)
Subject matter: Competition;Agreements, decisions and concerted practices;ECSC matters;Concerted practices;Agreements and concentrations
Concepts: Application for interim measures: suspension of operation of the contested measure and other interim measures
Procedure: Action for annulment;Application for interim measures - unfounded
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Order 
1. Interim measures — Suspension of operation — Conditions for granting — Prima 
facie case — Serious and irreparable damage — Cumulative conditions — Con­
sequences 
(Arts 242 EC and 243 EC; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, 
Art. 104(2)) 
2. Interim measures — Suspension of operation — Suspension of the obligation to 
provide a bank guarantee as a condition for not requiring immediate payment of a 
fine — Conditions for granting — Exceptional circumstances 
(Art. 242 EC) 
II - 4473 
SUMMARY — CASE T-46/03 R 
1. An application for interim measures 
must specify the circumstances giving 
rise to the urgency and the pleas in fact 
and in law justifying prima facie 
(fumus boni juris) the granting of the 
interim measure sought. These con­
ditions are cumulative, so that an 
application for suspension must be 
dismissed if one of them is lacking. 
(see para. 12) 
2. An application for suspension of the 
obligation to provide a bank guarantee 
as a condition for not requiring 
immediate payment of a fine can be 
accepted only in exceptional circum­
stances. The possibility of requiring the 
provision of a financial guarantee is 
explicitly laid down for interim pro­
ceedings by the Rules of Procedure of 
the Court of Justice and the Court of 
First Instance and corresponds to a 
general and reasonable course of con­
duct on the part of the Commission. 
The existence of such exceptional cir­
cumstances may, in principle, be 
regarded as being established when 
the party seeking to be exempted from 
provision of the required bank guaran­
tee adduces evidence that it is objec­
tively impossible for it to provide that 
guarantee or that providing it would 
endanger its existence. The relevance of 
that evidence must be assessed in the 
light of the objective economic situ­
ation of the applicant. 
(see paras 32-35) 
II - 4474