Case T-141/01: Action brought on 20 June 2001 by Entorn, Sociedat Limitada Enginyeria i Serveis against Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2001-10-13
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: EAGGF Guidance Section, EU financing, European Commission, action for annulment (EU), aid system, crop production

C 289/24

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

13.10.2001

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

ORDER OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

of 27 June 2001

of 7 June 2001

in Joined Cases T-164/99, T-37/00 and T-38/00 Alain
Leroy and Others v Council of the European Union (1)

(Decision 1999/307/EC — Integration of the Schengen
Secretariat into the General Secretariat of the Council —
Action for annulment)

(2001/C 289/59)

(Language of the case: French)

In Joined Cases T-164/99, T-37/00 and T-38/00 Alain Leroy,
former employee of the Economic Union of Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg (Benelux) seconded to the
Schengen Secretariat, residing in Grimbergen, Belgium, Yan-
nick Chevalier-Delanoue, official of the Council of the Euro-
pean Union, residing in Brussels, Belgium, Virginia Joaquim
Matos, residing in Montijo, Portugal, represented by G. Vander-
sanden and L. Levi, lawyers, with an address for service in
Luxembourg, supported by Union syndicale-Bruxelles, estab-
lished in Brussels, represented by S. Parmesan, lawyer, with an
address for service in Luxembourg,
intervener in Case T-
164/99, against Council of the European Union (Agents:
M. Bauer, F. Anton, and A. Bentley) — application — in Case
T-164/99 — for annulment of Council Decision 1999/307/EC
of 1 May 1999 laying down the detailed arrangements for the
integration of
into the General
Secretariat of the Council (OJ 1999 L 119, p. 49) and — in
Cases T-37/00 and T-38/00 — for annulment of Decision
1999/307, of various decisions of the Council appointing
other persons to posts within that institution, and of the
implied decisions of the Council not to appoint the applicants
to any of those posts, and for damages — the Court of
First Instance (Second Chamber), composed of A.W.H. Meij,
President, A. Potocki and J. Pirrung, Judges; D. Christensen,
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
27 June 2001, in which it:

the Schengen Secretariat

1. Dismisses the actions;

2.

3.

In Case T-164/99, orders the applicant to bear his own costs
and pay those incurred by the Council, and orders the intervener
to bear its own costs;

In Cases T-37/00 and T-38/00, orders the parties to bear
their own costs.

(1) OJ C 281 of 2.10.99.

in Case T-328/00: Mario Costacurta v Commission of the
European Communities (1)

(Officials — Assignment of the applicant to a third country
in 1993 — Reintegration of the official in the Publications
Office in 1996 — Loss of entitlement to the derogating
provisions of Annex X to the Staff Regulations — Request
to be reassigned to a third State submitted in 2000 on the
basis of Annex X — Inadmissibility of the action directed
against the Commission’s implied decisions)

(2001/C 289/60)

(Language of the case: French)

In Case T-328/00: Mario Costacurta, an official of the Com-
mission of the European Communities, residing in Luxem-
bourg, represented by M. Petit, lawyer, with an address for
service in Luxembourg, against Commission of the European
Communities (Agent: J. Currall) — application for annulment
directed, first, against a supposed implied rejection of the
request to be reassigned to a third State, dated 6 June 2000,
and, secondly, against a supposed implied rejection of the
applicant’s complaint of 24 October 2000 — the Court of
First Instance (Second Chamber), composed of A.W.H. Meij,
President, A. Potocki and J. Pirrung, Judges; H. Jung, Registrar,
made an order on 7 June 2001, the operative part of which is
as follows:

1.

2.

The application is dismissed as inadmissible.

The applicant shall bear all the costs, including those relating
to the interlocutory proceedings.

(1) OJ C 372 of 23.12.00.

Action brought on 20 June 2001 by Entorn, Sociedat
Limitada Enginyeria i Serveis against Commission of the
European Communities

(Case T-141/01)

(2001/C 289/61)

(Language of the case: Spanish)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the

13.10.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 289/25

European Communities on 20 June 2001 by Entorn, Sociedat
Limitada Enginyeria i Serveis, whose registered office is in
Barcelona (Spain), represented by Marı´a do Carmo Belard-
Kopke Marques-Pinto.

Action brought on 2 July 2001 by D.L.D. Trading Com-
pany Import-Export, spol. s.r.o. against the Council of the
European Union

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— annul in its entirety Commission Decision C(1999) 534
of 4 March 1999 withdrawing the assistance granted to
Entorn, Sociedat Limitada Enginyeria i Serveis under
Decision C(93) 3394 of 26 November 1993 relating to
the granting of EAGGF — Guidance Section assistance in
accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No 4256/88
for Project No 93.ES.06.030 entitled ‘Project demonstrat-
ing sumac cultivation using new cultivation techniques’;

(Case T-146/01)

(2001/C 289/62)

(Language of the case: German)

An action against the Council of the European Union was
brought before the Court of First Instance of the European
Communities on 2 July 2001 by D.L.D. Trading Company
Import-Export, spol. s.r.o., Brno, Czech Republic, represented
by Johannes Hintermayr, Georg Minichmayr and Peter Burg-
staller.

— order the Commission of the European Communities to

pay the costs.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant claims, first, that the Commission has committed
an error of assessment of the facts in regarding it as the
addressee of the contested decision ordering the repayment of
EUR 725 094.
the Commission
In the applicant’s view,
acknowledged from the start of the project that the beneficiary
of the Community financial contribution was Entorn, Trading
Limited, a company incorporated under Irish law, with which
the applicant, Entorn, Sociedat Limitada Enginyeria i Serveis,
has no economic, legal or financial connection whatsoever. It
was to that organisation that was actually transferred the sum
of EUR 725 094, now being claimed from the applicant who
never received any monies whatever from the Commission.

The applicant submits, secondly, that the contested decision is
vitiated by a breach of essential procedural requirements, since
the formalities necessary for its adoption have not been
complied with. Indeed, the Commission has not provided the
defendant with an opportunity to defend itself prior to the
closure of the administrative procedure, thereby offending
against the fundamental principle of Community law which
provides that, in any proceedings against a person which may
result in a decision adversely affecting it, the right to a fair
hearing must be observed, a principle which applies even
where there does not exist any legislation governing such
procedure.

1.

the Council

order
applicant ATS
to pay
10 000 000 within 14 days and declare the current
version of Article 5(8) of Council Directive 69/169/EEC
concerning travellers’ allowances and Regulation (EC)
No 2744/98 contrary to Community law;

the

2.

order the Council to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant is established in Brno, Czech Republic, and
operates two ‘Duty Free Shops’ in that country. In practice, it
sells goods exclusively to travellers who import them into
Austria in their personal luggage for their personal use.

It argues that Council Regulation (EC) No 2744/98 (1) and/or
Article 5(8) of Directive 69/169/EEC as amended by Council
Directive 91/191/EEC (2) are contrary to primary Community
law and the general principles of the Community and are
illegal.

The Council regulation on exemption from customs duty as
amended by Regulation (EC) No 2744/98 exempts imports of
goods from a non-member country contained in luggage
which are not commercial in character. However, the exemp-
tion applies only up to a certain maximum value. Pursuant to
a derogating provision, the duty-free limit which applied in
Austria until 31 December 1997 was 75 ecus. On 14 Decem-
ber 1998, the Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 2744/98,
whereby the duty-free amount may be limited by national
measures, and made that regulation enter into force retro-
actively on 1 January 1998, extending the derogation from the
uniform system of exemption from customs duty for a period
of eight years overall.