Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2001:187
Date: 2001-07-12
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;External relations;Fruit and vegetables;Commercial policy;Bananas
Concepts: General;GATT and WTO;Admissibility and examination of applications, forms of order sought and pleas in law
Procedure: Action for damages - unfounded;Action for damages - inadmissible
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Procedure — Application initiating proceedings — Subject-matter of the proceed­
ings — Definition — Amendment in the course of proceedings — Prohibited 
(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 44(1) and 48(2)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-3/99 
2. Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Illegality — Damage — Causal link 
(EC Treaty, Art. 215, second para, (now Art. 288, second para., EC)) 
3. International agreements — Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation — 
GATT 1994 — Direct effect — None — Not possible to rely on the GATT rules in 
order to contest the lawfulness of a Community act 
(General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1994) 
4. Procedure — Introduction of new pleas in law in the course of proceedings — 
Conditions — New matter — Definition 
(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 48(2)) 
5. International agreements — Agreements concluded by Member States — Agreements 
predating the EC Treaty — Article 234 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, 
Article 307 EC) — Purpose — Scope 
(EC Treaty, Art. 234, first para, (now, after amendment, Art. 307, first para., EC)) 
1. Under Article 44(1) of the Rules of 
Procedure of the Court of First Instance 
an applicant is required to state in his 
application the subject-matter of the 
proceedings and the forms of order 
sought. Although Article 48(2) of those 
rules authorises, in certain circum­
stances, new pleas in law to be intro­
duced in the course of proceedings, that 
provision cannot in any circumstances 
be interpreted as authorising the appli­
cant to bring new claims before the 
Community judicature and thereby to 
modify the subject-matter of the pro­
ceedings. 
(see para. 28) 
2. The Community can incur non-con­
tractual liability under the second 
paragraph of Article 215 of the EC 
Treaty (now the second paragraph of 
Article 288 EC) only if a number of 
conditions, relating to the unlawfulness 
of the alleged conduct of the Commu­
nity inst i tut ions, the existence of 
damage and the presence of a causal 
link between that conduct and the 
alleged damage, are met. 
(see para. 30) 
3. Having regard to their nature and 
structure, the W T O Agreement and its 
annexes are not in principle among the 
rules in the light of which the Court is 
to review the legality of measures of the 
Community institutions. Those texts 
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BANATRADINg V COUNCIL 
are not such as to create rights upon 
which individuals may rely directly 
before the courts by virtue of Commu­
nity law. 
(see para. 43) 
4. A judgment of the Community judica­
ture which merely confirms the law 
which was in principle known to the 
applicant when it brought its action 
cannot be regarded as a new matter 
allowing a fresh plea to be raised. 
(see para. 49) 
5. The purpose of the first paragraph of 
Article 234 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, the first paragraph of 
Article 307 EC) is to make clear, in 
accordance with the principles of inter­
national law, that application of the 
Treaty does not affect the commitment 
of the Member State concerned to 
respect the rights of third countries 
under an earlier agreement and to 
comply with its obligations thereunder. 
Thus, for a Community provision to be 
deprived of effect as a result of an 
international agreement, two condi­
tions must be fulfilled: the agreement 
must have been concluded before the 
entry into force of the Treaty and the 
third country concerned must derive 
from it rights which it can require the 
Member State concerned to respect. 
(see paras 70-71) 
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