Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:1997:110
Date: 1997-07-10
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Second Chamber, Extended Composition
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Competition;Agreements, decisions and concerted practices
Concepts: Admissibility and examination of applications, forms of order sought and pleas in law;Applications by natural or legal persons;Definition of the institution's position
Procedure: Action for damages - inadmissible;Action for failure to act - decision unnecessary
Origin: France

summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based. In order to comply with those provisions the applicant must include sufficient information to enable the Commission to submit argument on the substance of the case and the Community court to exercise its power of review. In this case, it is not sufficient for the applicant to rely on mere hypotheses, by referring to liquidation, attributing, without any further argument, the entire amount of the undertaking's liabilities to the Commission, and adding an amount calculated pro rata temporis which is supposed to correspond to the delay in obtaining hypothetical compensation, assessed by the applicant in the context of proceedings concerning the termination of its contract. The Commission also claims that there can be no liability on its part unless a link is established between the damage incurred — Guérin's liquidation — and the Commission's alleged failure to act. The relevant proof must be preceded by proof that the Commission was at fault and of the damage incurred. It is for the applicant to prove those matters, and it has not done so. The Commission adds that even if an action brought on the basis of the competition rules were appropriate and necessary in order to avoid liquidation, it was open to the complainant to seek redress before the national courts, which have jurisdiction to decide such matters by virtue of the principle of decentralization in the application of those rules. Findings of the Court Under Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice and Article 44(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance all applications must indicate the subject-matter of the proceedings and include a brief statement of the grounds relied on. The information given must be sufficiently clear and precise to enable the defendant to prepare his defence and the Court of First Instance to decide the case, if appropriate without other information. In order to ensure legal certainty and the sound administration of justice, if an action is to be admissible the essential facts and law on which it is based must be apparent from the text of the application itself, even if only stated briefly, provided the statement is coherent and comprehensible (see, for example, the order of the Court of First Instance in Case T-56/92 Koelman v Commission [1993] ECR II-1267, paragraph 21). In order to satisfy those requirements, an application seeking compensation for damage caused by a Community institution must state the evidence from which the conduct alleged against the institution can be identified, the reasons for which the applicant considers that there is a causal link between the conduct and the damage it claims to have suffered, and the nature and extent of that damage (Case T-387/94 Asia Motor France and Others v Commission [1996] ECR II-961, paragraph 107). An application which lacks the necessary precision must be declared inadmissible and that an infringement of Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice and of Article 44(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance is a bar to proceeding which the Court may raise of its own motion at any time in accordance with Article 113 of the Rules of Procedure (Asia Motor France, cited above, paragraph 108). In this case the application, even considered as a whole, does not enable a causal link between the Commission's alleged failure to act and the damage claimed by the applicant to be identified with the requisite clarity and precision. The applicant claims that the damage consists principally in its having been placed in liquidation on 22 May 1995 with liabilities of FF 1 289 128.10. However, even if it can be established that the Commission was guilty of failure to act between 27 May 1994 (the date on which the complaint was lodged) or 21 February 1995 (the date of the applicant's last letter to the Commission before its liquidation) and 22 May 1995 (the date on which the applicant went into liquidation), the applicant has failed to provide any indication in its application capable of explaining to what extent the Commission was liable for the damage thus quantified. The Community court is therefore unable to ascertain how the alleged failure to act might have contributed to increasing Guérin's liabilities and hence to its being placed in liquidation. The same applies with regard to the damage amounting to FF 288 060.43 which the applicant claims to have suffered, as a result of the delay in payment of compensation allegedly due to it as a result of the termination by Nissan France of its dealership contract. Again, the application supplies no indication of any causal link between the sums sought, FF 288 060.43 and FF 84 723.66, and an alleged failure of the Commission to act. Accordingly, the claim for compensation must be dismissed as inadmissible. Costs Article 87(6) of the Rules of Procedure provides that where a case does not proceed to judgment, the costs shall be at the discretion of the Court of First Instance. Article 87(3) provides that, where each party succeeds on some and fails on other heads, or where the circumstances are exceptional, the Court may order that the costs be shared or that each party bear its own costs. In this case, the Commission was largely responsible for the action brought by the applicant. It failed to comply within the time-limit laid down by Article 175 of the Treaty with the applicant's formal invitation to act of 2 January 1996, although it had been duly informed of the substance of the complaint since May Furthermore, it was not until 25 July 1996, that is to say after this action was brought, that it notified the applicant of its position on the complaint, in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation No 99/63. Consequently, the circumstances of the case will be fairly reflected by ordering the Commission to bear its own costs and half of those of the applicant. On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Second Chamber, Extended Composition) hereby: Declares that there is no need to rule on the action for failure to act; Dismisses the remainder of the application as inadmissible; Orders the Commission to pay its own costs and half of the applicant's costs. BellamyBriët Kalogeropoulos Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 10 July 1997. H. Jung C.W. Bellamy Registrar President 1: Language of the case: French. ECR