Order — ECLI:EU:F:2012:17
Date: 2012-02-13
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Third Chamber
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Staff cases - inadmissible;Action for damages - inadmissible

Summary Procedure — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Application lodged without the assistance of a lawyer — Applicant with the status of lawyer authorised to practise before a national court — No effect — Inadmissibility (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 19, third and fourth paras., and Art. 21, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, Art. 34(1), first para., and Art. 36) It follows from the third paragraph of Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, and in particular the term ‘represented’, as well as from the first paragraph of Article 34(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, that in order to bring an action before the Tribunal, a party, within the meaning of that article, must use the services of a third person authorised to practise before a court of a Member State or of a State which is a party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and that only an application signed by that third person may be validly referred to the Tribunal. Since no derogation from or exception to that obligation is provided for by the Court’s Statute or the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure, the submission of an application signed by the applicant himself, even if he is a lawyer authorised to practise before a national court, cannot be sufficient for the purpose of bringing an action. Such a breach is not one which may be rectified under Article 36 of the Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal and therefore renders the action manifestly inadmissible. (see paras 11-13, 16, 17) See: 5 December 1996, C‑174/96 P Lopes v Court of Justice, paras 8, 10 and 11; 27 November 2007, C‑163/07 P Diy-Mar Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret and Akar v Commission, paras 25 and 26 13 January 2005, T‑184/04 Sulvida v Commission, paras 4 and 8 30 October 2008, F‑48/08 Ortega Serrano v Commission, confirmed on appeal by the order of the General Court of the European Union of 9 March 2010, T‑583/08 P Ortega Serrano v Commission