CELEX: C2001/108/48
Language: en
Date: 2001-04-07 00:00:00
Title: Case T-30/01: Action brought on 9 February 2001 by the Territorio Histórico de Alava — Diputación Foral de Alava against the Commission of the European Communities

C 108/26               EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                      7.4.2001
Secondly, despite not being in possession of documentary                  Following an exchange of correspondence with the Com-
evidence to prove that he had participated in the elections, the          mission, the applicant sent the defendant a letter calling upon
appointing authority did not grant even a single day in respect           it to act pursuant to Article 232 EC. However, even after being
of travelling time to the applicant, who had travelled from his           so called upon, the Commission has failed to define its
place of work to the place where elections were being held.               position. Therefore the applicant states that, some 20 months
The appointing authority’s refusal to grant him even the                  after the lodging of the complaint, the Commission has not
minimum amount of travelling time is a manifest breach of                 defined its position with regard to the preliminary inquiry
the principle of proportionality.                                         undertaken by it.
                                                                          In support of its claims, the applicant alleges breach of the
                                                                          principle of good administration, inasmuch as the Commission
                                                                          ought to have concluded the preliminary stage of the procedure
                                                                          within a reasonable time.
                                                                          Secondly, the defendant has failed to define its position with
                                                                          regard to the requests contained in the complaint.
Action brought on 29 January 2001 by Fiocchi Munizioni
 SpA against Commission of the European Communities
                           (Case T-26/01)
                          (2001/C 108/47)
                                                                          Action brought on 9 February 2001 by the Territorio
                                                                          Histórico de Alava — Diputación Foral de Alava against
                                                                                 the Commission of the European Communities
                   (Language of the case: Italian)
                                                                                                   (Case T-30/01)
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 29 January 2001 by Fiocchi                                                (2001/C 108/48)
Munizioni SpA, represented by Ivo Van Bael, Enrico Adriano
Raffaelli, Fabrizio Di Gianni and Renato Antonini, avvocati.
                                                                                             (Language of the case: Spanish)
The applicant claims that the Court should:                               An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                          ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
—     declare, on the grounds set forth in the present application        European Communities on 9 February 2001 by the Territorio
      and as a consequence thereof, that the Commission has               Histórico de Alava — Diputación Foral de Alava, established
      failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 232 EC by            in Alava (Spain), represented by Marta Morales Isasi and
      failing to act with respect to the complaint of the                 Ignacio Sáenz-Cortabarrı́a Fernández, lawyers.
      applicant, having refrained from adopting the appropriate
      decisions and not having addressed the requisite acts;              The applicant claims that the Court should:
—     order the Commission to pay the costs; and                          —     annul the Commission’s decision of 28 November 2000
                                                                                initiating the procedure provided for by Article 88(2) EC
                                                                                with regard to Article 14 of Norma Foral 18/1993;
—     adopt any other necessary and equitable measure.
                                                                          —     order the Commission to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                          Pleas in law and main arguments
The applicant in the present proceedings — an undertaking                 The measure to which the contested decision relates is
involved in the manufacture and marketing of arms and                     contained in Article 14 of the Norma Foral No 18/1993 of the
munitions — claims to have lodged with the Commission a                   Territorio Histórico de Alava of 5 July 1993 concerning urgent
complaint relating to State aid allegedly granted by the                  fiscal measures in support of investment and the promotion
Kingdom of Spain to E.N. Santa Barbara, having its registered             of economic activity. That measure concerns the grant of an
office in Spain. In that complaint, the applicant pointed out             exemption from corporation tax to undertakings founded in
that the alleged aid gave rise to serious distortion of compe-            1993 and 1994, and was adopted as part of a whole series of
tition in the market for arms, in which it is in direct                   fiscal measures in support of investment and the promotion
competition with E.N. Santa Barbara.                                      of economic activity.
 ---pagebreak--- 7.4.2001                EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                      C 108/27
The applicant bases its claim in essence on alleged infringement           The applicant claims that the Court should:
of the procedure laid down by law in Article 88 EC and in
Regulation No 659/1999 (1) as regards existing aid schemes,                —     annul the Commission’s decision of 28 November 2000
and consequently pleads violation of the principles of legal                     initiating the procedure provided for by Article 88(2) EC
certainty, the protection of legitimate expectations and the                     with regard to Article 14 of Norma Foral 11/1993;
right to a fair hearing.
It maintains in that regard that the Commission has since                  —     order the Commission to pay the costs.
1994 been aware of the existence of the Norma Foral in
question, the provisions of which as a whole, and not
merely Article 14, were the subject of a complaint seeking a
declaration that it was incompatible with the common market                Pleas in law and main arguments
under Article 87 of the EC Treaty.
                                                                           The measure to which the contested decision relates is laid
As a result of that complaint, the Commission proceeded to
                                                                           down by Article 14 of the Norma Foral No 11/1993 of the
carry out a preliminary State aid investigation and sent a copy
                                                                           Territorio Histórico de Gipuzkoa of 26 June 1993 concerning
of the complaint in question to the Kingdom of Spain.
                                                                           urgent fiscal measures in support of investment and the
According to the applicant, the Commission at no time
                                                                           promotion of economic activity, which provides for an
indicated that it was initiating, or had initiated, the formal
                                                                           exemption from corporation tax for certain newly formed
investigation procedure provided for in Article 88(2) EC.
                                                                           undertakings.
The fact that, in November 2000, the Commission proceeded
to initiate the inter partes procedure provided for in Article             The pleas in law and main arguments are similar to those
88(2) with regard to one of the articles of Norma Foral                    advanced in Case T-30/01.
No 18/1993 necessarily means, in the applicant’s view,
that the Commission has failed to comply with the legally
established procedure for investigating and assessing existing
aid schemes.
The applicant considers that, if the Commission has any
doubts either as to whether the tax exemption provided for
may constitute aid or as to its compatibility with the common
market, it cannot categorise that exemption as new aid but
must classify it as existing aid and should proceed, in
accordance with the principle of sound administration, to                  Action brought on 9 February 2001 by the Territorio
analyse and scrutinise the same in the context of the constant             Histórico de Bizkaia — Diputación Foral de Bizkaia
review of aid systems of that type provided for in Article 88(1)             against the Commission of the European Communities
EC.
                                                                                                    (Case T-32/01)
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying
    down detailed rules for the application of the EC Treaty (OJ L 83
    of 27.3.1999, p. 1).
                                                                                                   (2001/C 108/50)
                                                                                              (Language of the case: Spanish)
Action brought on 9 February 2001 by the Territorio
Histórico de Gipuzkoa — Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa                     An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
  against the Commission of the European Communities                       ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                           European Communities on 9 February 2001 by the Territorio
                          (Case T-31/01)                                   Histórico de Bizkaia — Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, established
                                                                           in Bizkaia (Spain), represented by Marta Morales Isasi and
                         (2001/C 108/49)                                   Ignacio Sáenz-Cortabarrı́a Fernández, lawyers.
                   (Language of the case: Spanish)                         The applicant claims that the Court should:
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                 —     annul the Commission’s decision of 28 November 2000
European Communities on 9 February 2001 by the Territorio                        initiating the procedure provided for by Article 88(2) EC
Histórico de Gipuzkoa — Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa,                          with regard to Article 14 of Norma Foral 5/1993;
established in Gipuzkoa (Spain), represented by Marta Morales
Isasi and Ignacio Sáenz-Cortabarrı́a Fernández, lawyers.                 —     order the Commission to pay the costs.