Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Applications for interim measures ° Suspension of operation of a measure ° Application to the Court of First Instance ° Parallel application made to the Court of Justice for suspension of operation of the same measure ° Request made by the defendant institution that the President of the Court of First Instance suspend the procedure for interim relief or decline jurisdiction in relation to the application for suspension of operation ° Dismissed

(EC Treaty, Art. 185; EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 47, third para.; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 104; Council Decision 88/591, as amended by Decisions 93/350 and 94/149)

2. Applications for interim measures ° Conditions of admissibility ° Admissibility of the main application ° Irrelevant ° Limits

(EC Treaty, Arts 185 and 186; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 104(2))

3. Applications for interim measures ° Suspension of operation of a measure ° Conditions for granting ° Serious and irreparable harm ° Balancing of all the interests involved

(EC Treaty, Art 185; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 104(2))

4. Applications for interim measures ° Suspension of operation of a measure ° Conditions for granting ° Decision 96/239 on emergency measures to protect against bovine spongiform encephalopathy ° Balancing of all the interests involved ° Absolute priority to be given to protection of public health over the prevention of economic harm, even though such harm is reparable only with difficulty

(EC Treaty, Art. 185)

Summary

1. In the absence of any provision in the Statute of the Court of Justice or the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance providing for a similar possibility, a request that the President of the Court of First Instance suspend proceedings for interim relief pending before him or decline jurisdiction in relation to an application for suspension of operation of a measure when a parallel application for suspension of operation of the same measure is pending before the Court of Justice cannot be granted.

The ordering of suspension would, in principle, be incompatible with the very nature and purpose of the legal remedy which proceedings for interim relief represent and might impair the protection of the applicant' s procedural rights and legitimate interests whilst a decision to decline jurisdiction would be contrary to the principle that courts must exercise the jurisdiction conferred on them, under which the Court of First Instance cannot, save in the cases expressly provided for in the Statute, when it has jurisdiction to hear an action under the provisions of Decision 88/591, decline such jurisdiction.

2. The question of the admissibility of the main application must not, in principle, be examined in the proceedings for interim relief but must be reserved for the examination of the main application, save where that application appears, prima facie, to be manifestly inadmissible. To rule, at the stage of the proceedings for interim relief, on the admissibility of the main application, when its admissibility is not, prima facie, wholly excluded, would be tantamount to prejudging the Court' s decision on that application.

3. The urgency of an application for interim relief must be assessed by reference to the need to make an interim order in order to avoid serious and irreparable harm being caused to the person applying for suspension of application of a decision. In making that appraisal the judge hearing the application for interim measures must examine whether the annulment of the decision by the Court would make it possible to reverse the situation which would be brought about by immediate implementation of that decision and, conversely, whether the suspension requested is such as to prevent the decision from being fully effective in the event of the main application being dismissed.

4. An application for suspension of operation of Commission Decision 96/239 on emergency measures to protect against bovine spongiform encephalopathy cannot be granted. The arguments presented against that decision do not, prima facie, justify suspension of operation of that measure and the risk of the applicants' suffering serious and irreparable damage has not been demonstrated. Besides, given the risk to human life, which in the present state of scientific knowledge cannot be excluded, the balancing of the interests involved leads to giving absolute priority to the protection of public health over the prevention of the economic harm which may ensue from implementation of that decision and which the applicants can show, although such harm is reparable only with difficulty.