Case T-6/02: Action brought on 18 January 2002 by Michael Gerhard Franz Platte against Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2002-04-06
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, European official, action for annulment (EU), appointment of staff, assistant, professional experience

6.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 84/65

The applicants claim that the Court should:

— declare that, by failing to reach a decision on the
complaint lodged by the applicants against a concen-
tration with a Community dimension, which was notified
and approved at national level by the Vienna Oberlandes-
gericht (Higher Regional Court), in its capacity as Kar-
tellgericht (Restrictive Practices Court) by decision of
26 February 2001, or, in the alternative, by failing to
require the parties to the concentration to notify the
defendant of the concentration, the defendant failed to
fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty;

— order the defendant to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By letter of 25 May 2001, the applicants, as owners of Austrian
newspapers, lodged with the defendant a complaint regarding
a media concentration which had been approved in Austria, to
which the companies Bertelsmann, Gruner+Jahr, Raffeisen,
KURIER-Magazine and NEWS were parties, and which, accord-
ing to the applicants, had a Community dimension. The
complaint was accompanied by the request that the parties to
the concentration be required to notify the concentration in
accordance with Council Directive (EEC) No 4064/89.

DG Competition took the view, in a number of letters, that
the abovementioned regulation was not applicable to the
concentration in question, as there had only been a partial
transfer, which did not involve at least two undertakings with
turnovers of more than EUR 250 million. DG Competition
pointed out, however, that that view was not binding on the
defendant.

Since the defendant failed to react within two months to the
applicants’ request for a formal decision on the complaint, the
applicants have brought an action under Article 232 EC for a
declaration of failure to act. They submit that in the absence
of a decision attributable to the defendant, it is not possible to
bring an action for annulment before the Court of First
Instance, and that the applicants are directly and individually
concerned by the defendant’s failure to adopt a decision.

one and the same Member State. Finally, this was not a partial
transfer of an undertaking but a merger.

Action brought on 18 January 2002 by Michael Gerhard
Franz Platte against Commission of the European Com-
munities

(Case T-6/02)

(2002/C 84/119)

(Language of the case: French)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 18 January 2002 by Michael
Gerhard Franz Platte, residing in Tielt-Winge (Belgium), rep-
resented by Xavier De Kesel, lawyer.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— annul the decision of 6 September 2001 being appealed
against and make an order emending and implementing
what
to have done,
namely appoint the applicant to Grade C 4.

the appointing authority ought

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant was classified, upon taking up his duties, in
Grade C 5. In his application, the applicant contests that
decision. According to the applicant, he should, in view of his
previous experience and of the fact that the requirements of
the service call for the recruitment of a particularly well-
qualified person, have been classified in Grade C 4.

Removal from the register of Case T-315/00 (1)

(2002/C 84/120)

(Language of the case: Italian)

The applicants claim that the national decision is invalid under
Article 81 EC in conjunction with Regulation 4064/89,
because, contrary to Article 21(2) of that regulation, the
Republic of Austria applied its national competition law to a
concentration with a Community dimension. In addition, they
claim that there are two parties to the concentration with
turnovers in excess of EUR 250 million, one of which does
not achieve more than two-thirds of its annual turnover within

By order of 29 November 2001 the President of the Fourth
Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European
Communities Case T-315/00 Associazione delle Cantine Socia-
li Venete e della Cantina dei Colli Berici against Commission
of the European Communities, was removed from the register.

(1) OJ C 335 of 25 November 2000.