Order — ECLI:EU:T:1998:29
Date: 1998-02-13
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Second Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Competition;Agreements, decisions and concerted practices
Concepts: Limitation periods
Procedure: Action for annulment - inadmissible
Origin: France

Summary of the O r d e r 
Actions for annulment — Time-limits — Mandatory — Point from which time starts to run — 
Notification — Purely formal errors irrelevant 
(EC Treaty, Art. 173) 
The two-month time-limit for bringing an 
action laid down by Article 173 of the Treaty 
is a matter of public policy which was estab­
lished in order to ensure that legal positions 
are clear and certain and to avoid discrimi­
nation or arbitrary treatment in the adminis­
tration of justice, and the Court of First 
Instance may determine of its own motion 
whether it has been complied with. 
In that context, an error in the description of 
the addressee of a decision which is the sub­
ject of an action for annulment is a purely 
formal error which cannot in any event pre­
vent the application of the time-limits laid 
down by the Treaty, provided that the rel­
evant measure actually reached the addressee 
and the latter was able to see that it was 
addressed to him. 
I I - 253