Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Appeals - Grounds - Plea alleging incorrect appraisal of the facts - Inadmissible - Whether the Court of Justice may review the appraisal of the evidence - Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted

(Art. 225 EC; EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 51)

2. Applications for interim measures - Suspension of operation of a measure - Interim measures - Conditions for granting - Serious and irreparable damage - Burden of proof

(Arts 242 EC and 243 EC; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 83(2))

3. Applications for interim measures - Suspension of operation of a measure - Interim measures - Interim measures linked to a Commission decision terminating a procedure for reviewing antidumping measures which are soon to expire - Conditions for granting - Specific injury

(Arts. 242 EC and 243 EC; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 83(2))

4. Applications for interim measures - Suspension of operation of a measure - Interim measures - Conditions for granting - Serious and irreparable damage - Whether damage irreparable - Assessment solely on the basis of the uncertainty of obtaining compensation for pecuniary damage if an action for damages is brought - Not permissible

(Arts 242 EC and 243 EC; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 83(2))

Summary

1. The Court of First Instance has exclusive jurisdiction, firstly, to find the facts, save where a substantive inaccuracy in its findings is attributable to the documents submitted to it and, secondly, to appraise those facts. That appraisal thus does not, save where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted, constitute a point of law which is subject, as such, to review by the Court of Justice in an appeal.

( see para. 57 )

2. The purpose of interlocutory proceedings is to guarantee the full effectiveness of the definitive future decision, in order to ensure that there is no lacuna in the legal protection provided by the Court of Justice. It is for the purpose of attaining that objective that urgency must be assessed in the light of the need for an interlocutory order in order to avoid serious and irreparable damage to the party seeking the interim relief. It is for the party claiming serious and irreparable damage to establish its existence. While it is not necessary for it to be absolutely certain that the damage will occur, a sufficient degree of probability being enough, the applicant is none the less required to prove the facts which are considered to establish the prospect of such damage.

( see paras 61-63 )

3. When a decision terminating a review of anti-dumping measures is adopted on the ground that it is not in the Community interest to maintain them, the resulting injury to the Community industry is an effect inherent in that decision. In order to suspend the imposition of a definitive anti-dumping duty with a view to preventing serious and irreparable injury to the party seeking suspension, that party cannot merely plead the effects inherent in the imposition of such a duty but must demonstrate injury which is specific to itself. The same principles must apply when the position is reversed, that is to say, when, in an appeal against a decision of the Community institutions not to introduce an anti-dumping duty, Community undertakings are seeking to establish that it is urgent to adopt interim measures.

( see paras 66-67 )

4. The uncertainty of obtaining compensation for pecuniary damage if an action for damages is brought cannot in itself be regarded as a factor capable of establishing that such damage is irreparable. At the interlocutory stage, the possibility of subsequently obtaining compensation for pecuniary damage if an action for damages is brought following annulment of the contested measure is necessarily uncertain. Interlocutory proceedings are not intended to replace the action for damages in order to remove that uncertainty. Their purpose is only to guarantee the full effectiveness of the definitive future decision that will be made in the main action.

( see paras 71-73 )