Case T-40/15: Judgment of the General Court of 17 February 2017 — ASPLA and Armando Álvarez v European Union (Non-contractual liability — Precision of the application — Prescription — Admissibility — Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights — Reasonable time for adjudication — Material damage — Interest on the amount of the unpaid fine — Bank guarantee charges — Causal link)
Date: 2017-02-17
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: admissibility, damages, fine, infringement of EU law, interest, right to justice








C_2017112EN.01003301.xml










10.4.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 112/33





Judgment of the General Court of 17 February 2017 — ASPLA and Armando Álvarez v European Union
(Case T-40/15) (1)

((Non-contractual liability - Precision of the application - Prescription - Admissibility - Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights - Reasonable time for adjudication - Material damage - Interest on the amount of the unpaid fine - Bank guarantee charges - Causal link))
(2017/C 112/45)
Language of the case: Spanish

Parties


Applicants: Plásticos Españoles, SA (ASPLA) (Torrelavega, Spain) and Armando Álvarez, SA (Madrid, Spain) (represented: initially by M. Troncoso Ferrer, C. Ruixó Claramunt and S. Moya Izquierdo, and subsequently by M. Troncoso Ferrer and S. Moya Izquierdo, lawyers)

Defendant: European Union, represented by the Court of Justice of the European Union (represented: initially by A. Placco, and subsequently by J. Inghelram, Á. Almendros Manzano and P. Giusta, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the defendant: European Commission (represented by: P. van Nuffel, F. Castilla Contreras and C. Urraca Caviedes, acting as Agents)

Re:

Application on the basis of Article 268 TFEU seeking compensation for the damage allegedly suffered by the applicants as a result of the length of the proceedings, before the General Court, in the context of the cases which gave rise to the judgments of 16 November 2011, ASPLA v Commission (T-76/06, not published, EU:T:2011:672) and Álvarez v Commission (T-78/06, not published, EU:T:2011:673).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Orders the European Union, represented by the Court of Justice of the European Union, to pay damages of EUR 44 951,24 to Plásticos Españoles, SA (ASPLA) and damages of EUR 111 042,48 to Armando Álvarez, SA for the material damage suffered by each of those companies as a result of the failure to comply with the requirement to adjudicate within a reasonable period of time in the cases which gave rise to the judgments of 16 November 2011, ASPLA v Commission (T-76/06, not published, EU:T:2011:672) and Álvarez v Commission (T-78/06, not published, EU:T:2011:673). Each of those heads of damages will be reassessed by adding on compensatory interest, to be calculated as from 27 January 2015 and until delivery of the present judgment, at the annual rate of inflation recorded, for the period at issue, by Eurostat (Statistical Office of the European Union) in the Member State in which those companies are established;










2.


Orders that each of the heads of damages referred to in paragraph 1 above be increased by default interest, to be calculated as from the date of delivery of the present judgment and until full payment, at the rate set by the ECB for its principal refinancing operations, plus two percentage points;










3.


Dismisses the action as to the remainder;










4.


Orders ASPLA and Armando Álvarez, on the one hand, and the European Union, represented by the Court of Justice of the European Union, on the other, to bear their own respective costs;










5.


Orders the European Commission to bear its own costs.






(1)  OJ C 89, 16.3.2015.