Case T-214/02: Action brought on 15 July 2002 by María-Angeles Martínez Valls against European Parliament
Date: 2002-09-14
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Parliament, action for annulment (EU), admission to examinations, competition (EU), consultation of information, equal treatment

C 219/24

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

14.9.2002

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant claims that the Court should:

The applicant submitted a tender for the delivery of buoys
to harbours in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan
following the supply procurement notice issued by the Com-
mission. The notice was subject to a corrigendum, after which
the applicant was given the opportunity to modify its tender.
Since the corrigendum did not give rise to any changes as
regards the applicant, it sent back the same tender unchanged
to the Commission. After this, the applicant was informed that
its tender was rejected, since it did not comply with the 90-
day validity period fixed for a tender from the date of its
submission.

The applicant considers that this Decision contains an error of
fact. The end date of the validity of the tender, i.e. 28 July
2002, was calculated from the date of the initial deadline of
29 April 2002. This date was not altered by the second
submission of the tender, following the corrigendum of the
notice by the Commission, since the applicant sent back the
same tender. The applicant claims, however, that it was clear
from the surrounding circumstances and other indications in
the tender that the tender was valid for 90 days from the
revised deadline of 11 June 2002 onwards.

Furthermore, the applicant claims that the Commission has
violated paragraph 19.5 of the Instructions to Tenderers, the
duty of care and the principle of proportionality. According to
paragraph 19.5 of these Instructions, the Commission can
require Tenderers to provide clarification of a tender within
24 hours. The applicant claims that other statements in the
tender and the surrounding circumstances in general should
have given rise to doubt which required clarification of the
duration of the tender’s validity. The Commission has not,
however, made use of this possibility.

— annul the decision of the Selection Board in competition
PE/90/A of 3 April 2002 refusing to admit the applicant
to the next stages in the competition for having obtained
insufficient marks in one of the written tests (test C) and
annul the decision of the Selection Board in competition
PE/90/A of 31 May 2002 confirming its decision of
3 April 2002 and rejecting the applicant’s request seeking
access to certain documents;

— annul the whole of the competition;

— at the very least, annul all the aspects and acts of the
competition subsequent to the unlawful elements of the
individual decisions of 3 April 2002 and 31 May 2002,
in particular, the list of successful candidates and the
appointments made on the basis of that list;

— in any event, order the defendant

the
necessary measures in order to restore the applicant’s
rights as a candidate who has passed tests A, B and C of
the competition in question;

to adopt all

— failing that, order the defendant to pay damages assessed,
to

time, at EUR 10 389,46, subject

at the material
increment;

— order the defendant to produce the corrected copy of
test C and general and objective assessment criteria, to
identify the publicly accessible documents which the
Board used when marking test C and to produce the
Board’s reasoned report;

Action brought on 15 July 2002 by María-Angeles Martí-
nez Valls against European Parliament

— order the defendant to pay the costs.

(Case T-214/02)

(2002/C 219/56)

(Language of the case: French)

Pleas in law and main arguments

An action against the European Parliament was brought before
the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on
15 July 2002 by María-Angeles Martínez Valls, residing in
Brussels, represented by Georges Vandersanden and Laure
Levi, lawyers.

The applicant alleges breach of the duty to provide reasons,
breach of the general principle of transparency, breach of the

14.9.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 219/25

principle patere legem quem ipse fecisti and breach of the
principle of non-discrimination. According to the applicant,
the European Parliament was required to allow her access to
her corrected written paper and to the criteria on which the
Board assessed it.

Removal from the register of Case T-124/00 (1)

(2002/C 219/57)

(Language of the Case: Italian)

The applicant further alleges infringement of the competition
notice and a manifest error of assessment. In her view, the
Selection Board laid down for itself too strict a set of criteria
against which to assess the test.

By order of 21 June 2002 the President of the Second Chamber
of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities
ordered the removal
from the register of Case T-124/00:
Federazione Associazioni Imprese Distribuzione and Others v
Commission of the European Communities.

(1) OJ C 192 of 8.7.2000.