Case T-103/12: Judgment of the General Court of 29 November 2016 — T & L Sugars and Sidul Açúcares v Commission (Non-contractual liability — Agriculture — Sugar — Exceptional measures — Availability of supply on the EU market — 2011/12 marketing year — Rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Sufficiently serious infringement — Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 — Principle of non-discrimination — Proportionality — Legal certainty — Legitimate expectations — Duty of diligence and the principle of sound administration)
Date: 2016-11-29
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: common organisation of markets, equal treatment, import licence, invitation to tender, principle of proportionality, production surplus, right to justice, sugar, tariff quota, tariff reduction








C_2017022EN.01002001.xml










23.1.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 22/20





Judgment of the General Court of 29 November 2016 — T & L Sugars and Sidul Açúcares v Commission
(Case T-103/12) (1)

((Non-contractual liability - Agriculture - Sugar - Exceptional measures - Availability of supply on the EU market - 2011/12 marketing year - Rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals - Sufficiently serious infringement - Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 - Principle of non-discrimination - Proportionality - Legal certainty - Legitimate expectations - Duty of diligence and the principle of sound administration))
(2017/C 022/26)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicants: T & L Sugars Ltd (London, United Kingdom), Sidul Açúcares, Unipessoal Lda (Santa Iria de Azóia, Portugal) (represented initially by D. Waelbroeck, lawyer, and D. Slater, Solicitor, and subsequently by D. Waelbroeck)

Interveners in support of the applicants: DAI — Sociedade de Desenvolvimento Agro-Industrial, SA (Coruche, Portugal) (represented by M. Mendes Pereira, lawyer), RAR — Refinarias de Açúcar Reunidas, SA (Porto, Portugal) (represented by M. Mendes Pereira), Lemarco SA (Bucharest, Romania), Lemarco Cristal Srl (Urziceni, Romania) and Zaharul Liesti SA (Lieşti, Romania) (represented by L.-I. Van de Waart and D. Gruia Dufaut, lawyers) and SFIR Società Fondiaria Industriale Romagnola SpA (Cesena, Italy) and SFIR Raffineria di Brindisi SpA (Cesena) (represented by P. Buccarelli and M. Todino, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented initially by P. Rossi and N. Donnelly, and subsequently by P. Rossi and P. Ondrůšek, acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by E. Sitbon and A. Westerhof Löfflerová, acting as Agents) and Comité européen des fabricants de sucre (CEFS) (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by C. Pitschas, lawyer)

Re:







(i)


Application pursuant to Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1239/2011 of 30 November 2011 opening a standing invitation to tender for the 2011/12 marketing year for imports of sugar of CN code 1701 at a reduced customs duty (OJ 2011 L 318, p. 4), of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1240/2011 of 30 November 2011 laying down exceptional measures as regards the release of out-of-quota sugar and isoglucose on the Union market at reduced surplus levy during marketing year 2011/12 (OJ 2011 L 318, p. 9), of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1281/2011 of 8 December 2011 on the minimum customs duty to be fixed in response to the first partial invitation to tender within the tendering procedure opened by Implementing Regulation No 1239/2011 (OJ 2011 L 327, p. 60), of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2011 of 14 December 2011 fixing allocation coefficient, rejecting further applications and closing the period for submitting applications for available quantities of out-of-quota sugar to be sold on the Union market at reduced surplus levy during marketing year 2011/12 (OJ 2011 L 332, p. 8), of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1316/2011 of 15 December 2011 on the minimum customs duty to be fixed in response to the second partial invitation to tender within the tendering procedure opened by Implementing Regulation No 1239/2011 (OJ 2011 L 334, p. 16), of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1384/2011 of 22 December 2011 on the minimum customs duty to be fixed in response to the third partial invitation to tender within the tendering procedure opened by Implementing Regulation No 1239/2011 (OJ 2011 L 343, p. 33), of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 27/2012 of 12 January 2012 on the minimum customs duty for sugar to be fixed in response to the fourth partial invitation to tender within the tendering procedure opened by Implementing Regulation No 1239/2011 (OJ 2012 L 9, p. 12), and of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 57/2012 of 23 January 2012, suspending the tendering procedure opened by Implementing Regulation No 1239/2011 (OJ 2012 L 19, p. 12), and (ii) action pursuant to Article 268 TFEU for damages for the loss which the applicants allegedly suffered as a result of the adoption of those measures and of the Commission’s refusal to take the necessary measures to re-establish availability of supply of raw cane sugar.





Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Dismisses the action;










2.


Orders T & L Sugars Ltd and Sidul Açúcares, Unipessoal Lda to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;










3.


Orders the Council of the European Union, DAI Sociedade de Desenvolvimento Agro-Industrial, SA, RAR — Refinarias de Açùcar Reunidas, SA, Lemarco SA, Lemarco Cristal Srl, Zaharul Liesti SA, SFIR — Società Fondiaria Industriale Romagnola SpA, SFIR Raffineria di Brindisi SpA and the Comité européen des fabricants de sucre (CEFS) to bear their own costs.






(1)  OJ C 151, 26.5.2012.