Case C-258/02 P: Appeal brought on 12 July 2002 by Bactria Industriehygiene-Service GmbH against the order made on 29 April 2002 by the Second Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in case T-339/00 between Bactria Industriehygiene-Service GmbH and Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2002-09-28
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: action for annulment (EU), chemical industry, chemical product, marketing, public health

28.9.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 233/13

Tribunals, London Tribunal Centre, dated 27 June 2002, which
was received at the Court Registry on 11 July 2002, for a
preliminary ruling in the case of Halifax plc, Leeds Permanent
Development Services Ltd, County Wide Property Investments
Ltd and Commissioners of Customs and Excise on the
following questions:

Industriehygiene-Service GmbH, established in Kirchheimbo-
landen (Germany), represented by Koen Van Maldegem and
Claudio Mereu, lawyers.

The Appellant claims that the Court should:

1.

(a)

In the relevant circumstances, do transactions:

— declare the present appeal admissible and well-founded;

(i)

effected by each participator with the intention
solely of obtaining a tax advantage and

(ii) which have no independent business purpose

qualify for VAT purposes as supplies made by or to
the participators in the course of their economic
activities?

(b)

In the relevant circumstances, what factors should
be considered in determining the identity of the
recipients of the supplies made by the arm’s-length
builders?

— annul the Order of the Court of First Instance of 29 April

2002 in case T-339/00;

— declare that the Appellant has standing to bring proceed-
ings under the fourth paragraph of Article 230 EC for the
annulment of Regulation 1896/2000/EC (2);

— remand the case to the Court of First Instance to rule on

the merits;

— order the European Commission to bear all costs and

expenses of both proceedings.

2. Does the doctrine of abuse of rights as developed by the
Court operate to disallow the Appellants their claims for
tax arising from the
for input
recovery of or relief
implementation of the relevant transactions?

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Appellant submits that the contested order should be
annulled bacause it was decided on the basis of an overly
restrictive interpretation of Article 230 EC which, the Appel-
lant maintains, no longer applies as a result of the new test for
standing introduced by the Court of First Instance in its recent
judgment in case T-177/01, Jégo-Quéré et Cia SA v. European
Commission. In the Appellant’s view, his action is clearly
admissible under this new test inasmuch as the contested
Regulation restricts his data protection and property rights in
a manner that is both definite and immediate and the Appellant
has no recourse to another judicial body to protect his rights.

Furthermore, the Appellant submits that, even if the new test
is not applied, the legal assessment made by the Court of First
Instance in concluding that the Appellant was not individually
concerned by the contested Regulation is contradictory, insuf-
ficiently motivated, based on an erroneous interpretation and
application of the relevant legal framework and inconsistent
with the predominant case-law on individual concern.

(1) OJ C 4, 6.1.2001, p. 9.
(2) of the Commission of 7 September 2000 on the first phase of the
programme referred to in Article 16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council on biocidal products
(Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 228, 8.9.2000, p. 6).

Appeal brought on 12 July 2002 by Bactria Industriehy-
giene-Service GmbH against the order made on 29 April
2002 by the Second Chamber of the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities in case T-339/
00 (1) between Bactria Industriehygiene-Service GmbH
and Commission of the European Communities

(Case C-258/02 P)

(2002/C 233/21)

the Court of First

An appeal against the order made on 29 April 2002 by the
Second Chamber of
the
European Communities in case T-339/00 between Bactria
Industriehygiene-Service GmbH and Commission of the Euro-
pean Communities, was brought before the Court of Justice of
the European Communities on 12 July 2002 by Bactria

Instance of