ORDER OF THE CIVIL SERVICE TRIBUNAL

(First Chamber)

10 November 2009

Case F-14/08 DEP

X

v

European Parliament

(Procedure – Taxation of costs)

Application: for taxation of costs submitted by X pursuant to Article 92 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal, following the Tribunal’s order of 18 December 2008 in Case F‑14/08 X v Parliament (ECR-SC I‑A‑1‑0000 and II‑A‑1‑0000).

Held: The amount of costs recoverable by X in Case F‑14/08 is fixed at EUR 5 670, plus default interest from the date of service of the present order to the date of payment. The interest rate to be applied is two points above the rate set by the European Central Bank for its main refinancing operations, as applicable during the period in question, provided that that is not higher than the rate of 6% sought by the applicant.

Summary

1. Procedure – Costs – Taxation – Recoverable costs – Definition

(Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, Art. 91(b))

2. Procedure – Costs – Taxation – Elements to be taken into consideration

(Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, Art. 91(b))

3. Procedure – Costs – Taxation – Default interest

1. It follows from Article 91(b) of the Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal that recoverable costs are limited, first, to those incurred for the purpose of the proceedings before the Civil Service Tribunal and, second, to those which were necessary for that purpose. Furthermore, it is for the applicant to produce supporting documents such as to prove that the costs which he seeks to have reimbursed have actually been incurred.

(see para. 21)

See:

T-171/00 DEP Spruyt v Commission [2002] ECR-SC I‑A‑225 and II‑1127, para. 22; T-7/98 DEP, T-208/98 DEP and T-109/99 DEP De Nicola v EIB [2004] ECR-SC I‑A‑219 and II‑973, para. 42

F‑100/05 DEP Chatziioannidou v Commission [2007] ECR-SC I‑A‑1‑139 and II‑A‑1‑759, para. 17

2. The Community judicature is not empowered to tax the fees payable by the parties to their own lawyers, but to determine the amount of those fees which may be recovered from the party ordered to pay the costs. When ruling on an application for taxation of costs, it is not obliged to take account of any national scales of lawyers’ fees or any agreement in that regard between the party concerned and his agents or advisers.

In the absence of Community provisions laying down fee scales, the court 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, the difficulties presented by the case, the amount of work generated by the case for the agents or advisers involved and the financial interest which the parties had in the proceedings. The Community court’s unfettered assessment may lead it to fix the recoverable costs at an amount lower than that which the party required to pay them would have been prepared to pay the other party.

(see paras 22-23)

See:

C-3/06 P Groupe Danone v Commission [2007] ECR I‑1331, paras 61 and 62

Spruyt v Commission, paras 25 and 26; De Nicola v EIB, para. 32; T-47/03 DEP Sison v Council [2009] ECR II‑1483, para. 48

Chatziioannidou v Commission, para. 20

3. The applicant is entitled to default interest on the amount of recoverable costs fixed by the court, from the service of the order fixing the costs to actual payment of those costs.

(see para. 38)