CELEX: C2002/084/117
Language: en
Date: 2002-04-06 00:00:00
Title: Case T-1/02: Action brought on 3 January 2002 by Robert Polinsky against Court of Justice of the European Communities

C 84/64                EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      6.4.2002
The applicant also states that the Commission has erred in law           —      order the defendant to pay to the applicant, by way of
and in fact by clearing the ‘no-discrimination rule’, according                 compensation for the damage suffered and to be suffered,
to which merchants are prohibited from charging their costs                     EUR 350 000, fixed with all manner of reservations,
for the use of debit card by a customer to that customer.                       together with default interest at the rate of 10 % per
According to the applicant, this rule constitutes a restriction                 annum as from 7 October 1999 until the date on which
on competition, since it prevents the merchants from using                      it is actually paid;
the threat of such discrimination as pressure in order to
bargain for lower merchant’s fees. The applicant states that the         —      order the defendant to pay the costs.
Commission has made an incomplete market investigation on
this point.
                                                                         Pleas in law and main arguments
Likewise, the applicant claims that the Commission has erred
in clearing several other rules with the contested decision.             The applicant is suffering from an occupational disease
Thus the Commission clears the ‘cross-border issuing rules’              contracted after working in the Court of Justice building which
that require that a bank wishing to start issuing cards in               contained asbestos.
another state must comply with the rules applicable in that
state. According to the applicant, this partitions the market de         According to the applicant, the Court of Justice confuses two
facto and prevents less restrictive rules in one state from being        categories of damage: that covered by Article 288 of the EC
used by issuing banks as a competitive advantage in another              Treaty and that covered by Article 73 of the Staff Regulations.
state. Furthermore, the Commission erred in clearing the                 The applicant is not seeking a finding under Article 73 of
‘cross-border acquiring rule’, which prevents, according to the          the Staff Regulations that his health has deteriorated but
applicant, merchants in one state from seeking an acquiring              compensation, under Article 288 of the EC Treaty, for non-
bank in another state where the multilateral interchange fee is          material damage as a result of his illness, damage which is
lower.                                                                   non-medical and non-economic.
Finally, the Commission gives insufficient reasoning for its             The applicant claims that all the conditions for the granting of
clearance of the ‘No acquiring without issuing rule’. This rule          such compensation are met in his case. In particular, he has
requires that a bank, wishing to acquire merchants, must issue           suffered actual damage in that his family and social lives have
a certain number of cards to customers before it may begin its           been disrupted as a result of his illness. Secondly, there is, in
acquiring activities. This amounts, according to the applicant,          the applicant’s view, a causal link between the damage suffered
to a market sharing agreement between the current issuers.               and the act complained of in that the Court of Justice did not
                                                                         take appropriate protective measures. Thirdly, the damage is
                                                                         unusual and special in nature.
                                                                         Action brought on 10 January 2002 by Schlüsselverlag
Action brought on 3 January 2002 by Robert Polinsky
                                                                         J.S. Moser Gesellschaft m.b.H. and Others against the
  against Court of Justice of the European Communities
                                                                                    Commission of the European Communities
                          (Case T-1/02)                                                               (Case T-3/02)
                        (2002/C 84/117)                                                             (2002/C 84/118)
                                                                                              (Language of the case: German)
                   (Language of the case: French)
                                                                         An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                         ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
An action against the Court of Justice was brought before the            European Communities on 10 January 2002 by Schlüsselverlag
Court of First Instance of the European Communities on
                                                                         J.S. Moser Gesellschaft m.b.H., established in Innsbruck (Aus-
3 January 2002 by Robert Polinsky, residing in Thionville
                                                                         tria), J. Wimmer GmbH, established in Linz (Austria), Zeitungs-
(France), represented by Juan-Ramón Iturriagagoitia, lawyer.            und Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H., established in Bregenz (Aus-
                                                                         tria), Eugen Russ Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei
                                                                         Gesellschaft mbH, established in Schwarzach (Austria), ‘Die
The applicant claims that the Court should:                              Presse’ Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., established in Vienna (Aus-
                                                                         tria), and ‘Salzburger Nachrichten’ Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H.
—     annul the decision of the Court of Justice of 25 September         & Co KG, established in Salzburg (Austria), represented by
      2001;                                                              M. Krüger, lawyer.