Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:1998:180
Date: 1998-07-16
Language of the case: Italian
Court formation: Third Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF);Integrated Mediterranean programmes (IMP)
Concepts: General;Structural funds
Procedure: Action for annulment - successful;Action for annulment - inadmissible
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Definition — Measures producing binding 
legal effects — Commission interpretation of a legisUtive provision setting a deadline by 
which potential recipients of Community financial assistance must bring proceedings — Not 
covered — Decision declaring the applicant to be out of time — Covered — Automatic 
release of the sums at issue — Not covered 
(EC Treaty, Art. 173) 
2. Economic and social cohesion — Structural interventions — Integrated Mediterranean pro­
grammes — Grant of Community financial assistance — Deadline for submitting applications 
for final payment — Date on which the application is sent 
(Council Regulation No 4256/88, as amended by Regulation No 2085/93, Art. 10) 
II - 2889 
SUMMARY — CASE T-81/97 
1. Any measure the legal effects of which 
are binding on, and capable of affecting 
the interests of, the applicant by bringing 
about a distinct change in his legal pos­
ition is an act or a decision which may be 
the subject of an action under Article 173 
of the Treaty for a declaration that it is 
void. 
That cannot be said of a document in 
which the Commission simply interprets 
a legislative provision providing for the 
automatic release of the sums committed 
for the granting of assistance in respect of 
certain projects decided on by the Com­
mission which have not been the subject 
of a request for final payment within the 
time-limits. 
By contrast, a measure whereby the 
Commission, in applying its interpreta­
tion of a legislative provision, concludes 
that the potential recipient had not 
respected the deadline and denies it the 
financial assistance initially granted to it 
is an act which may be the subject of an 
action under Article 173. 
However, a measure releasing the sums in 
question is not the unavoidable conse­
quence of a declaration that the right to 
financial assistance previously granted by 
the Commission has been forfeited. Con­
sequently, such a measure does not, as 
such, produce any independent legal 
effect vis-à-vis the potential beneficiary. 
2. The deadline laid down in Article 10 of 
Regulation N o 4256/88, as amended by 
Regulation N o 2085/93, for submitting 
requests for final payment of sums com­
mitted for the granting of assistance in 
respect of projects decided on by the 
Commission within the framework of 
Regulation N o 2088/85 concerning the 
integrated Mediterranean programmes 
must be understood as being the date on 
which the request is sent, not the date on 
which it is received by the Commission. 
First, such an interpretation ensures equal 
treatment for potential applicants, since it 
ensures that the time-limit is the same, 
irrespective of the geographical distance 
of the recipients and the time necessary 
for transmission. Second, in view of the 
radical consequences of exceeding the 
time-limit laid down by law, legal cer­
tainty requires that reference be made to 
the date on which the request is sent, to 
the advantage of the potential recipients, 
since they can determine only the date on 
which the request is sent, of which they 
can provide proof, and not the time taken 
to transmit that request. 
II - 2890