Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2017:100
Date: 2017-02-17
Language of the case: German
Court formation: First Chamber
Subject matter: Provisions governing the Institutions;Data protection
Procedure: Action for annulment - inadmissible
Origin: Germany

summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based (see, to that effect, order of 19 May 2008, TF1 v Commission, T‑144/04, EU:T:2008:155, paragraphs 56 and 57). 45 In the present case, as EFSA rightly submitted, the applicant’s arguments appear to be confused. The applicant expresses her position in terms which are, to say the least, imprecise, referring to Article 263 TFEU and the decision of 27 June 2014 without, however, as the President of the General Court also observed in the order of 7 July 2014, Mayer v EFSA (T‑493/14 R, not published, EU:T:2014:617, paragraph 29), formulating any application for annulment of the alleged decision of 16 April 2014 or the decision of 27 June 2014 in her heads of claim, even though their subject matter can no longer be modified at the stage of the reply in the absence of elements of law and fact which came to light during the procedure. 46 On those grounds alone, the heads of claim relating to the failure to extend the contract must be dismissed as inadmissible. Admissibility of the claims relating to the access to documents 47 By the fifth and sixth heads of claim in the originating application, the applicant explicitly asks the General Court to order EFSA to grant her access to all the emails exchanged between Ms K. and ILSI or, in the alternative, to grant access to those emails to a third party nominated by the General Court. By the 5th, 6th and 10th heads of claim in the reply, the applicant also requests, in the alternative, partial access to the abovementioned emails, the annulment of the decision of 27 June 2014 in so far as it concerns the refusal of access to the documents and to grant the General Court, as the third party nominated by the latter, access to those emails. 48 EFSA argues that those heads of claim are inadmissible, because the General Court has no jurisdiction to issue directions to it in an action for annulment. 49 As set out in paragraph 34 above, when exercising judicial review of legality, the General Court is not entitled to issue directions to the institutions or to assume the role assigned to them. Therefore, the heads of claim seeking to obtain access to the abovementioned documents must, on those grounds, be dismissed as inadmissible, while, furthermore, the heads of claim in the reply in so far as they seek, for the first time, annulment of the decision of 27 June 2014 refusing access to the abovementioned documents, must also be dismissed, since the heads of claim set out in the originating application can no longer be modified at the stage of the reply in the absence of elements of law or fact which come to light during the procedure. 50 In the light of all those considerations, the action must be dismissed as inadmissible in its entirety and, therefore, it is unnecessary to rule on the admissibility of the applicant’s observations, in particular those of 6 May 2015 and 29 June 2016, which are intended to expand upon and substantiate the pleas relied on in support of the various heads of claim declared inadmissible. Costs 51 Under Article 134(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the successful party’s pleadings. 52 As regards the third and fourth heads of claim in the originating application, relating to the Staff Committee of EFSA which were withdrawn, it must be recalled that Article 136(1) of the Rules of Procedure provides that a party who discontinues or withdraws from proceedings shall be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the other party’s observations on the discontinuance. Under Article 136(2), at the request of the party who discontinues or withdraws from proceedings, the costs shall be borne by the other party if this appears justified by the conduct of that party. 53 The applicant takes the view that EFSA must pay the costs relating to the heads of claim she withdrew, by reason of the ‘reprehensible conduct’ of EFSA in her regard. 54 However, the General Court considers that the third and fourth heads of claim in the originating application were, in any event, manifestly inadmissible, in that they do not contain any application for annulment, but consist of requests for the issue of directions and declarations, so that it cannot be held that EFSA’s attitude justifies that it must pay the costs relating to those heads of claim, in accordance with Article 136(2) of the Rules of Procedure. 55 The applicant also asks the General Court to apply, directly or by analogy, Article 88 of the Rules of Procedure of 2 May 1991, according to which, in proceedings between the Union and its servants the institutions shall bear their own costs. The applicant submits that that provision also applies with respect to seconded national experts. 56 In that connection, it must be recalled that according to settled case-law, national experts on secondment with an institution or body of the EU are not ‘servants’ within the meaning of Article 270 TFEU (see, to that effect, order of 9 October 2006, Gualtieri v Commission, F‑53/06, EU:F:2006:100, paragraphs 21 and 22) and it was held that the specific regime in Article 88 of the Rules of Procedure of 2 May 1991 was not applicable to them (see, to that effect, judgment of 10 September 2008, Gualtieri v Commission, T‑284/06, not published, EU:T:2008:335, paragraph 47). 57 Since EFSA has applied for costs and the applicant has been unsuccessful, the applicant must be ordered to pay the costs incurred in the present appeal proceedings and in the interim proceedings. On those grounds, THE GENERAL COURT (First Chamber) hereby: 1. Dismisses the action as inadmissible; 2. Orders Ingrid Alice Mayer to pay the costs, including those relating to the proceedings for interim measures. Kanninen Pelikánová Buttigieg Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 17 February 2017. [Signatures] Table of contents Background to the dispute Procedure and forms of order sought Law Admissibility of the supplementary pleadings to the originating application Admissibility of the action Admissibility of the claim relating to the extension of the contract – Admissibility of the first head of claim in the originating application – Admissibility of the second head of claim in the originating application Admissibility of the claims relating to the access to documents Costs * Language of the case: German.