Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Procedure - Costs - Taxation - Recoverable costs - Expenses necessarily incurred by the parties - Definition - Expenses incurred by the Council relating to photocopies of procedural documents distributed to the Permanent Representations of the Member States - Excluded

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 91(b) and 92(1))

2. Procedure - Costs - Taxation - Recoverable costs - Expenses necessarily incurred by the parties - Definition - Expenses relating to the photocopying of a number of documents greater than that provided for by Article 43(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance - Excluded

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 43(1) and 91(b) and 92(1))

3. Procedure - Costs - Taxation - Subject-matter

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 91(b) and 92(1))

4. Procedure - Costs - Taxation - Factors to be taken into consideration

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 91(b) and 92(1))

Summary

1. The concept of expenses necessarily incurred by the parties for the purpose of the proceedings provided for in Article 91(b) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance cannot extend to the expenses incurred by a party on account of its internal organisation.

The expenses relating to the shipment by the Council of a copy of procedural documents to the Permanent Representations of the Member States are not in the nature of expenses necessarily incurred within the meaning of Article 91 of the Rules of Procedure. Such expenses are not directly linked to the Council's defence before the Court of First Instance, but are entailed by the internal organisation of the Council and the measures adopted, regard being had to the nature of that institution, which constitutes a single legal entity despite consisting of 15 members, and stem from provisions concerning its internal organisation, adopted in order to ensure a proper flow of information between the institution and the Member States of which it is composed.

( see paras 17-18 )

2. Under Article 43(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, only those expenses relating to the photocopying and shipment to the Court of five copies of the documents in the language of the case plus as many copies as there are parties to the case must be regarded as expenses necessarily incurred by the parties for the purpose of the proceedings within the meaning of Article 91(b) of the Rules of Procedure. The fact that, in the framework of inter-institutional cooperation, the institutions provide the Court with a greater number of copies as well as with copies of the documents translated into French, in order to facilitate the internal work of the Court, cannot, in any case, alter the scope of the provisions of its Rules of Procedure to the detriment of the other parties.

Accordingly, neither the expenses relating to the production of a number of copies of documents in the language of the case greater than that provided for in Article 43(1) of the Rules of Procedure nor the expenses relating to the copies of the French translations of the Council's documents sent to the Court may be regarded as recoverable.

( see paras 22-24 )

3. In proceedings for taxation of costs, the Community judicature is not empowered to tax the fees payable by the parties to their own lawyers but may determine the amount of those fees which may be recovered from the party ordered to pay the costs.

( see para. 32 )

4. Since Community law does not contain any provisions laying down a scale of fees, the Community judicature must make an unfettered assessment of the facts of the case, taking into account the purpose and nature of the proceedings, their significance from the point of view of Community law, as well as the difficulties presented by the case, the amount of work generated by the dispute for the agents and advisers involved and the financial interest which the parties had in the proceedings and, in so doing, is not obliged to take account of any national scales of lawyers' fees or any agreement concluded in that regard between the party concerned and his agents or advisers.

( see para. 32 )