Judgment;Information — ECLI:EU:T:2023:604
Date: 2023-10-04
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Third Chamber
Subject matter: Freedom to provide services;Public procurement in the European Union
Procedure: Action for damages - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful

Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 4 October 2023 – HB v Commission (Case T‑444/22) (1) (Public service contracts – Provision of technical assistance services to the High Judicial Council and to the Ukrainian authorities – Payment of a debt by way of out of court set-off – Legal basis – Competence of the author of the act – Whether the claim is certain and of a fixed amount – Non-contractual liability) 1. Action for annulment – Actionable measures – Concept – Decision for an out-of-court set-off between debts and claims adopted by the Commission on the basis of Regulation 2018/1046 – Included (Art. 263 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation 2018/1046, Art. 102) (see paragraph 54) 2. Action for annulment – Actionable measures – Measures producing binding legal effects – Action relating in reality to a contractual dispute – Enforceable decision of the Commission for the purpose of recovering a claim – Act intended to produce binding effects outside the contractual framework and involving the exercise of the prerogatives of public authority – Jurisdiction of the EU judicature – Need for an arbitration clause conferring such jurisdiction – Admissibility (Arts 263 and 299 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation 2018/1046, Art. 102) (see paragraph 56) 3. Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Damage – Causal link – Burden of proof – One of the conditions not satisfied – Action for damages dismissed in its entirety (Art. 340, second para., TFEU) (see paragraphs 67, 68) Operative part The Court: 1. Annuls the decision of the European Commission of 13 May 2022 by which the Commission offset, on the one hand, HB’s claim against it in respect of the costs which the Commission was ordered to pay by the judgements of 21 December 2021, HB v Commission (T 795/19), and of 21 December 2021, HB v Commission (T 796/19), and, on the other hand, the claim of a principal amount of EUR 1 197 055.86 which the Commission states that it has against HB by virtue of the recovery decision of 15 October 2019 in respect of the CARDS/2008/166 429 contract; 2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder; 3. Orders HB and the Commission to each bear their own costs. 1 OJ C 359, 19.9.2022.