Case C-249/03: Action brought on 10 June 2003 by the Commission of the European Communities against (1) "TASEIS TRENDS" (Transport Environment Development Systems) and (2) Marios Kontaratos and Others
Date: 2003-08-02
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: action for annulment (EU), financial control, redemption, road transport, telecommunications

C 184/26

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

2.8.2003

Action brought on 10 June 2003 by the Commission of the
‘TASEIS TRENDS’
European Communities against
(Transport Environment Development Systems) and (2)
Marios Kontaratos and Others

(1)

Commission. Since the defendant did not produce the evidence
needed to overturn the audit's conclusions, the Commission
considered the contracts to be terminated and sought reimbur-
sement of the sums overpaid.

(Case C-249/03)

(2003/C 184/46)

‘TASEIS TRENDS’
An action against (1)
(Transport Environ-
ment Development Systems) and (2) Marios Kontaratos and
Others was brought before the Court of
the
European Communities on 10 June 2003 by the Commission
of the European Communities, represented by Maria Patakia, of
its Legal Service, Maria Bra, of
and
K. Kapoutzidou, of the Athens Bar, with an address for service
in Luxembourg.

the Brussels Bar,

Justice of

The Commission claims that the Court should:

— allow the application in its entirety;

— order the defendant partnership ‘TASEIS TRENDS’ and the
defendants who are members thereof to reimburse to the
Commission the entire amount of
the wrongly made
advance payments received by the defendant partnership
from the Community in respect of the contracts at issue,
that is to say the sum of EUR 195 435, together with
contractual interest in respect of the period from the date
of mispayment,
calculated in that way
amounting on 30 September 2002 to EUR 84 489,14
and thereafter EUR 35,45 (29,17 plus 6,28) per day until
the defendant's debt has been fully discharged, or, in the
alternative, interest for late payment under Article 94 of
Commission Regulation No 3418/93 on the whole sum
of EUR 195 345, at a rate of 5,50% from 31 December
1998 (when the period laid down by the order
for
payment expired) until the defendant's debt has been fully
discharged, amounting up until 30 September 2002 to
EUR 40 315,83 and thereafter EUR 29,45 per day;

interest

the

— order the defendants to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

‘TASEIS TRENDS’

is a civil-law partnership
The defendant
governed by Greek law, which has as its object the promotion
of research and the dissemination of information on proble-
matical
issues in relation to the environment, development,
town planning, transport and so forth. It concluded with the
Commission, within the framework of Council Decision 88/
416/EEC of 29 June 1988 on a Community programme in the
informatics and telecommunications
field of road transport
(i) Contract BATT — V
(Drive) (1),
2029 (implementation of the project ‘BATT — Behaviour and
ATT’) and (ii) Contract MIRO — V 2060 (implementation of
the project ‘Mobility impact, reactions and opinions’).

the following contracts:

The Commission pleads:

— in support of its principal claim: Article 8,2 of Annex II
to the contracts, which provides that
the Commission
may terminate the contract inter alia if, in order to obtain
the Commission, or any
the financial contribution of
other advantage under
the contract, a contractor has
made false or incomplete statements for which it may
properly be held responsible;

of

the

interest:

— in support of
the principal head of claim regarding
payment
of
Article 8,4 of Annex II to the contracts, which provides
that interest is due from the date on which the payments
in question were received, at
the rate applied by the
European Monetary Cooperation Fund (now the European
Central Bank) increased by two percentage points;

subparagraph

second

— in support of

the alternative head of claim regarding
payment of interest: Article 94 of Commission Regulation
No 3418/93 of 9 December 1993 laying down detailed
rules for the implementation of certain provisions of the
Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977 (2).

(1) OJ L 206, 30.7.1988, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 315, 16.12.1993, p. 1.

Action brought on 11 June 2003 by the Commission of
Portuguese
the

European Communities

against

the

Republic

(Case C-251/03)

(2003/C 184/47)

An action against the Portuguese Republic was brought before
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 11 June
the European Communities,
2003 by the Commission of
represented by António Caeiros and Gregorio Valero Jordana,
acting as Agents.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— declare that, by failing to adopt the necessary measures to
ensure that water intended for human consumption meets
the requirements laid down in Annex I to Council Direc-
tive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980 relating to the quality of
water intended for human consumption, the Portuguese
Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 7
(6) of that directive; and

Serious financial contraventions on the part of the defendant
were found following audits by the Court of Auditors and the

— order the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs.