Case T-68/01: Action brought on 22 March 2001 by Huber + Suhner MRS GmbH against the Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2001-07-28
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, State aid, action for annulment (EU), control of State aid, industrial research, radio telecommunications

28.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 212/25

ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST
INSTANCE

The applicant claims that the Court should:

of 2 April 2001

in Case T-24/01 R: Claire Staelen v European Parliament
and Council of the European Union

— annul Article 1(1) and (3) and Article 3 of the Com-
mission’s decision C(2000) 2466 final of 26 July 2000 (1),
in so far as the Commission declares therein that the aid
granted by Germany for project 1014, amounting to
DEM 701 664,50,
is incompatible with the common
market;

(Application for interim relief — Officials — Non-admission
to later stages of a competition — Urgency — None)

— order the Commission to pay the costs.

(2001/C 212/47)

Pleas in law and main arguments

(Language of the case: French)

In Case T-24/01 R: Claire Staelen, member of the temporary
staff of the European Parliament, residing in Bridel (Luxem-
bourg), represented by J. Choucroun, lawyer, with an address
for service in Luxembourg, against European Parliament
(Agents: Y. Pantalis and J.F. De Wachter) and Council of the
European Union (Agents: F. Anton and A. Pilette) — appli-
cation, essentially, for an order suspending the procedure
recruiting successful candidates in competition EUR/A/151/98
to recruit French-speaking administrators, organised by the
European Parliament, and an order requiring the Parliament
and the Council, together, to produce all the minutes relating
to the tests in that competition and to reply to a number of
questions put by the applicant — the President of the Court of
First Instance made an order on 2 April 2001, the operative
part of which is as follows:

1.

2.

The application is dismissed;

Costs are reserved.

In 1996 the applicant acquired the mobile radio products
division of the German company FUBA Hans Kolbe & Co.
That company had collaborated, during the period from
1994 to 1996, in a research and development project (pro-
ject 1014) implemented by a subsidiary of the SICAN Group
in relation to repeater systems in the Land of Lower Saxony.
The Land of Lower Saxony had promoted that project by
granting State aid, which the Commission held, in the contest-
ed decision, to be incompatible with the common market. The
Land thereupon demanded the return of the amount of the
aid.

The applicant maintains that the defendant has committed a
significant breach of its obligation to provide a statement of
reasons, as prescribed by Article 253 EC. It claims that, in the
context of the legal assessment contained in its decision, the
defendant devoted only three sentences to project 1014 and
provided no reasons whatsoever as to why the project did not
fulfil the criteria of industrial research within the meaning of
Annex I to the Community framework (2).

is

the

decision

contrary

contested

Furthermore,
to
Article 87(3)(c) EC. It wrongly concludes that project 1014
fulfils neither the criteria of industrial research nor those of
competitive development. The defendant was not entitled to
deny that project 1014 involved precompetitive development
by arguing that that project concerned the development of a
commercial repeater system. The project resulted in the
development only of prototypes for essential components of
the repeater system. The research activities were limited to
preparatory work, and the prototypes developed by the project
partners were not yet capable of being used for commercial
purposes. Consequently,
the defendant has infringed the
Community framework by concluding that project 1014 went
beyond the stage of precompetitive development.

(1) OJ 2001 L 18, p. 18.
(2) Community framework for state aid for research and development

(OJ 1996 C 45, p. 5).

Action brought on 22 March 2001 by Huber + Suhner
MRS GmbH against the Commission of the European
Communities

(Case T-68/01)

(2001/C 212/48)

(Language of the case: German)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 22 March 2001 by Huber + Suhner
MRS GmbH, of Bad Salzdetfurth (Germany), represented by
Hans-Jörg Niemeyer and Egbert Wilms, Rechtsanwälte, with
an address for service in Luxembourg.