Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 11 September 2002 in Case T-13/99: Pfizer Animal Health SA v Council of the European Union (Transfer of resistance to antibiotics from animals to humans — Directive 70/524/EEC — Regulation concerning the withdrawal of the authorisation of an additive in feedingstuffs — Admissibility — Article 11 of Directive 70/524/EEC — Manifest error of assessment — Precautionary principle — Risk assessment and risk management — Consultation of a scientific committee — Principle of proportionality — Legitimate expectations — Obligation to state reasons — Right to property — Misuse of powers)
Date: 2002-11-23
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: action for annulment (EU), animal nutrition, antibiotic, marketing restriction, pharmaceutical industry

23.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 289/21

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

of 11 September 2002

in Case T-13/99: Pfizer Animal Health SA v Council of the
European Union (1)

(Transfer of resistance to antibiotics from animals to humans
— Directive 70/524/EEC — Regulation concerning the
withdrawal of the authorisation of an additive in feeding-
stuffs — Admissibility — Article 11 of Directive 70/524/
EEC — Manifest error of assessment — Precautionary
principle — Risk assessment and risk management —
Consultation of a scientific committee — Principle of pro-
portionality — Legitimate expectations — Obligation to
state reasons — Right to property — Misuse of powers)

the Court of First Instance (Third Chamber), composed of:
J. Azizi, President, K. Lenaerts and M. Jaeger, Judges; F. Erlbach-
er, Legal Secretary, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
11 September 2002, in which it:

1. Dismisses the application;

2. Orders Pfizer to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by
including those relating to the proceedings for

the Council,
interim relief;

3. Orders the Asociación nacional de productores de ganado
porcino, the Asociación española de criadores de vacuno de
carne, the Fédération européenne de la santé animale and the
Fédération européenne des
la
nutrition animale to bear their own costs and to pay those
incurred by the Council in respect of their intervention in the
main proceedings and the proceedings for interim relief;

fabricants d’adjuvants pour

4. Orders the Asociación española de productores de huevos and
the Pig Veterinary Society to bear their own costs and to pay
those incurred by the Council in respect of their applications for
leave to intervene;

(2002/C 289/40)

(Language of the case: English)

5. Orders the Commission,

the Kingdom of Denmark,

the
Kingdom of Sweden, the Republic of Finland and the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to bear their
own costs, both in the main proceedings and in the proceedings
for interim relief.

In Case T-13/99, Pfizer Animal Health SA, established in
Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), represented by I.S. Forrester QC,
M. Powell, Solicitor, E. Wright, Barrister, and W. van Lemberg-
en, lawyer, instructed by S.J. Gale-Batten, Solicitor, with an
address for service in Luxembourg, supported by Asociación
nacional de productores de ganado porcino (Anprogapor),
established in Madrid, and Asociación española de criadores
de vacuno de carne (Asovac), established in Barcelona (Spain),
represented by J. Folguera Crespo, A. Gutiérrez Hernández,
J. Massaguer Fuentes and E. Navarro Varona, avocats, with
an address for service in Luxembourg, and by Féderation
européenne de la santé animale (Fedesa), established in Brus-
sels, and Féderation européenne des fabricants d’adjuvants
pour la nutrition animale (Fefana), established in Brussels,
represented by D. Waelbroeck and D. Brinckman, avocats,
with an address for service in Luxembourg, v Council of the
European Union (Agents: J. Carbery, M. Sims and F. P. Ruggeri
Laderchi), supported by Commission of the European Com-
munities (Agents: P. Oliver, T. Christoforou and K. Fitch), by
Kingdom of Denmark (Agents: M. J. Molde, Holst-Christensen
and S. Ryom), by Kingdom of Sweden (Agents: A. Kruse and
L. Nordling), by Republic of Finland (Agents: H. Rotkirch,
T. Pynnä and E. Bygglin) and by United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland (Agent: R. Magrill): Application
for annulment of Council Regulation (EC) No 2821/98 of
17 December 1998 amending, as regards withdrawal of the
authorisation of certain antibiotics, Directive 70/524/EEC
concerning additives in feedingstuffs (OJ 1998 L 351, p. 4),

(1) OJ C 86 of 27.3.1999.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

of 11 September 2002

in Case T-70/99: Alpharma Inc. v Council of the European
Union (1)

(Transfer of resistance to antibiotics from animals to humans
— Directive 70/524/EEC — Regulation withdrawing auth-
orisation of an additive in feedingstuffs — Admissibility —
Breach of essential procedural requirements — Manifest
error of assessment — Precautionary principle — Risk
assessment and risk management — Consultation of a
scientific committee — Principle of proportionality — Legit-
imate expectations — Obligation to state reasons — Rights
of the defence)

(2002/C 289/41)

(Language of the case: English)

In Case T-70/99, Alpharma Inc., established in Fort Lee, New
Jersey (United States of America), represented by G. Robert,