Case T-109/05: Action brought on 8 March 2005 by SpA Navigazione Libera del Golfo against the Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2005-03-08
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, State aid, access to EU information, action for annulment (EU), control of State aid, maritime transport, services of general interest, transport company

30.4.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 106/43

Action brought on 8 March 2005 by SpA Navigazione
Libera del Golfo against the Commission of the European
Communities

(Case T-109/05)

(2005/C 106/84)

(Language of the case: Italian)

An action against the Commission of the European Commu-
nities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 8 March 2005 by SpA Navigazione
Libera del Golfo (NLG), established in Naples, represented by S.
Ravenna, lawyer, for annulment of the decision adopted on 3
February 2005, (1) under Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of
30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents, (2) a decision which
upholds the refusal to grant access to the information requested
by the applicant.

relates

The information requested by the applicant, of which the
to the extra costs
Commission refused disclosure,
incurred by the passenger transport services between the Port
of Naples Beverello and the island of Capri. Those services are
operated by the public undertaking Caremar SpA, established
in Naples, under a public service obligation,
for which it
receives annual payments (State aid) authorised by the Commis-
sion by decision of 16 March 2004, as provided for in Article
88(2) of the EC Treaty.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

1. annul the Commission decision of 3 February 2005;

2. order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

When it informed the applicant of the decision of 16 March
2004, allegedly on the grounds of protection of the commercial
interests of Caremar the Commission did not, when giving the
reasons for its decision, disclose information on the operating
costs of Caremar's commercial activities, in particular the extra
costs incurred by the connections to the island of Capri carried
out under public service obligations and the annual payments
made for that service by the Region of Campania.

The applicant has always operated similar passenger transport
services on the same Naples Beverello-Capri route under public
service obligations without, however, receiving any subsidy to
offset the extra costs inherent in those obligations and, as a
result, it regards that treatment as discriminatory.

In the light of the applicant's legal interest in bringing proceed-
ings and the need to acquire full knowledge of the Caremar
decision within the shortest time for the purposes of protecting
its own interests and of any consequent challenge to the deci-
sion of 16 March 2004, the applicant asked for access to infor-
mation concerning the extra costs of the public service obliga-
tions borne by Caremar for the connections to the island of
Capri and the amount of the aid relating thereto.

By decision of 3 February 2005 the Commission refused access
to the information requested by NLG, essentially pleading
grounds of protection of the commercial interests of Caremar.

Challenging that decision, NLG submits that the Commission
committed, inter alia, a serious error of law by failing to have
regard to the provisions of its Communication C(2003) 4582
of 1 December 2003 on professional secrecy in State aid deci-
sions, (3) which expressly lays down in paragraph 17 the
requirements of transparency and of disclosure of information
regarding the costs of public services inasmuch as it is not
considered confidential or protected as a business secret.

(1) Decision not published.
(2) OJ L 145 of 31.05.2001, p. 43.
(3) OJ C 297 of 09.12.2003, p. 6.

Removal from the Register of Case T-205/03, T-206/03, T-
207/03, T-208/03, T-209/03, and T-210/03 (1)

(2005/C 106/85)

(Language of the case: French)

the President of
Instance of

the Fifth
By order of 25 January 2005,
Chamber of
the European
the Court of First
Communities has ordered the removal from the Register of
Case T-205/03, T-206/03,T-207/03, T-208/03, T-209/03, and
T-210/03, Nicolas Georgiopoulos
and Others, Panayotis
Adamopoulos and Others, Athanassios Rammos, Stavroula
Gogos-Skarpatzi and Others, Nikolaos Andrikakis and Others,
Konstantinos Athanassopoulos and Others v Commission of
the European Communities.

(1) OJ C 184 of 2.8.2003.