Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Procedure — Action brought before the Court of First Instance on the basis of an arbitration clause — Condition — Existence of a contract — Relationship created between the successful tenderer for food aid and the Commission — Contractual nature — (Council Regulation No 2802/98; Commission Regulation No 111/1999, Art. 16)

2. Procedure — Action brought before the Court of First Instance on the basis of an arbitration clause — Claim for payment of default interest — Admissibility

3. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — Food aid — Implementation — Award of tender for the supply of transport for skimmed-milk powder — Obligation on the successful tenderer to take care of the operation of loading the goods — None — Principle of sound management of the Community ' s financial resources — (Commission Regulations Nos 1643/89 and 1815/1999, Art. 2)

4. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — Food aid — Implementation — Award of tender for the supply of transport for beef — Obligation on the successful tenderer to take care of the operation of loading the goods — (Commission Regulations Nos 1643/89 and 1799/1999, Art. 2)

5. Procedure — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Summary of the pleas in law relied on — Application for compensation for damages caused by a Community institution — (Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 44(1)(c))

Summary

1. The absence of any express contractual categorisation of an appointment of a successful tenderer for food aid by the Commission under Regulation No 111/1999 laying down general rules for the application of Regulation No 2802/98 does not in itself preclude the possibility that the relationship between the Commission and the successful tenderer may be regarded as contractual in nature. The successful tenderer ' s offer and its acceptance by the Commission created a legal relationship between the two parties which gave rise to reciprocal rights and obligations between them and satisfies the criteria of a bilateral contract. The clause contained in Article 16 of Regulation No 111/1999, according to which the Court of Justice of the European Communities is competent to resolve any dispute resulting from the implementation or the non-implementation or from the interpretation of the rules governing supply operations carried out in accordance with that regulation, has reasonable meaning only if a contractual relationship exists between the Commission and a successful tenderer such as the applicant.

see paras 85-87

2. It is generally accepted in the laws of the Member States that a delay in payment involves a loss for which the creditor must be compensated. Community law recognises an obligation to pay such compensation as a general principle of law. Where a claim is for payment of default interest as flat-rate and abstract compensation, it is not necessary for it to be supported by specific reasons and it is, as such, admissible.

see paras 90-91

3. Article 2 of Regulation No 1815/1999 on the supply of skimmed-milk powder to Russia, according to which the supply which the successful tenderer takes on comprises, as well as the transport, the taking-over of the goods from the warehouses of the intervention agencies, at the loading bay, cannot have the effect of entrusting the successful tenderer with the material operation of loading of the goods in question, because that loading operation is already covered by separate Community financing under Regulation No 1643/89 defining the standard amounts to be used for financing material operations arising from the public storage of agricultural products. The principle of sound management of the Community ' s financial resources prevents payment being made for that operation for a second time by entrusting it to the successful tenderer for the supply in the procedure opened by Regulation No 1815/1999 to establish the costs of supplying transport, from intervention stocks, for skimmed-milk powder to certain places of destination in Russia. Since the operation of loading the goods cannot fall to the successful tenderer, it is therefore the responsibility of the Commission, as party to a transport contract under which loading is a preparatory operation necessary for the subsequent transport of the goods.

see paras 132-134, 136

4. Article 2 of Regulation No 1799/1999 on the supply of beef to Russia, according to which the supply which the successful tenderer undertakes to carry out comprises, apart from the transport, the taking-over of the goods from the warehouses of the intervention agencies, at the loading bay, does not prevent the taking-over of the goods from covering the service of loading the goods because the loading operation does not benefit from separate Community financing under Regulation No 1643/89 defining the standard amounts to be used for financing material operations arising from the public storage of agricultural products. Consequently, that loading operation forms part of the transport contract concluded by the Commission and the successful tenderer and is the responsibility of the latter, as part of the tender procedure opened by Regulation No 1799/1999 to establish the costs of supplying transport, from intervention stocks, for certain lots of beef to certain places of destination in Russia.

see paras 148-149

5. In order to satisfy the requirements of Article 44(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, an application seeking compensation for damage allegedly caused by a Community institution on the basis of the Community ' s non-contractual liability must set out the evidence from which the conduct which the applicant alleges 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.

see para. 176