Order — ECLI:EU:T:2005:378
Date: 2005-10-26
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Non-contractual liability
Concepts: Basis of liability
Procedure: Action for damages - unfounded

Summary of the Order
Non-contractual liability — Compensation for damage caused by servants of the Community
in the performance of their duties — Activity not included in the performance of the duties of
that servant — No liability
(Art. 288, second para., EC)
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SUMMARY — CASE T-124/04
By referring at one and the same time to
damage caused by the institutions and to
that caused by the servants of the Commu­
nity, Article 288 EC indicates that the
Community is only liable for those acts of
its servants which, by virtue of an internal
and direct relationship, are the necessary
extension of the tasks entrusted to the
institutions. In the light of the special nature
of this legal system, it would not therefore be
lawful to extend it to categories of acts other
than those referred to.
Thus, the signature by an official of a
Commission delegation in a third country
of a ‘Verbal Note’ in support of an applica­
tion by a close relation, who is the divorced
wife of the applicant, for the issue by the
local authorities of a residence permit to
herself and her two children cannot be
considered to be an act for which the
Community is liable. The drawing up of
such a ‘Verbal Note’ merely constitutes a
practice and cannot be considered to be an
act which is the necessary extension of tasks
entrusted to the institutions - in this case,
tasks entrusted to outside delegations of the
Commission - and thus an act undertaken
in the performance of the duties of the
servant who undertook it.
(see paras 18, 22)
II - 4654