Case T-725/14: Action brought on 14 October 2014 — Aalberts Industries v Commission and Court of Justice of the European Union
Date: 2014-10-14
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, damages, fundamental rights, interest, price agreement








C_2014431EN.01004301.xml










1.12.2014   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 431/43





Action brought on 14 October 2014 — Aalberts Industries v Commission and Court of Justice of the European Union
(Case T-725/14)
(2014/C 431/67)
Language of the case: Dutch

Parties


Applicant: Aalberts Industries NV (Utrecht, Netherlands) (represented by: R. Wesseling and M. Tuurenhout, lawyers)

Defendants: European Commission and Court of Justice of the European Union

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:






—


order the European Union represented by the Court of Justice or the European Commission to compensate the damage suffered by Aalberts as a result of the infringement of its rights, consisting of EUR 1 0 41  863 of material damage and EUR 5 0 40  000 of non-material damage or an amount to be fixed by the General Court on an equitable basis, to be increased by compensatory interest from 13 January 2010 until delivery of the present judgment, at the rate fixed by the ECB for main refinancing operations, applicable during the period in question, increased by two percentage points or at a rate fixed by the General Court on an equitable basis;










—


order the European Union represented by the Court of Justice or the European Commission to pay the costs.





Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant submits that the General Court infringed its right to have its case dealt with within a reasonable time in the action in Case T-385/06 Aalberts Industries N.V. and Others v Commission, which the applicant brought against Commission Decision C(2006) 4180 of 20 September 2006 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 EC and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/F-1/38.121 — Fittings).
The applicant states that the procedure lasted 4 years and 3 months whereas it should not have taken the General Court more than three years to deal with its action in view of all the circumstances of the case. The applicant asserts that the General Court acted contrary to the second paragraph of Article 47 of the of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which requires the European Union Courts to adjudicate on cases before them within a reasonable time, and Article 6(1) of the ECHR, which confers on individuals the right have their case dealt with within a reasonable time.
The applicant has suffered actual and certain damage as a result of the fact that the General Court did not dispose of the action within a period of 3 years. That damage consists of the costs that the applicant had to incur for the refinancing of a bank guarantee once the action had taken longer than 3 years to be dealt with.
The applicant has suffered non-material damage given that the image of it as a cartel offender has persisted for an unreasonably long period of time as a result of the excessive duration of the procedure before the General Court. The applicant is of the view that compensation in an amount of 5 % of the fine initially imposed is in line with the compensation deemed appropriate by the Court of Justice in comparable situations of time-limits having been seriously exceeded in the assessment of cartel fines.
The applicant states, in the light of the foregoing, that there is a direct causal link between the damage claimed and a rule of law infringed by the European Union intended to confer rights on individuals. The applicant is therefore of the view that the conditions establishing non-contractual liability on the part of the European Union have been satisfied for the purposes of the second paragraph of Article 340 TFEU.