CELEX: C2002/305/62
Language: en
Date: 2002-12-07 00:00:00
Title: Case T-313/02: Action brought on 11 October 2002 by David Meca-Medina and Igor Majcen against the Commission of the European Communities

C 305/30               EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                        7.12.2002
In support of his claims, the applicant alleges:                          They claim that the Commission manifestly erred in fact and
                                                                          in law in finding that, with respect to anti-doping rules, the
—     the retroactive application of the contested decision               IOC is not an undertaking for the purposes of Community
      infringes the principles underlying recovery of sums                law. It is clear that the IOC cannot be treated in the same way
      overpaid and, in particular, Article 85 of the Staff                as a public institution providing social security services and
      Regulations as well as the principles of legitimate expec-          that it does not exercise the prerogatives of a public authority.
      tations and sound administration;                                   Moreover, the rules in question affect the conduct of all
                                                                          athletes on the market for the sports which the applicants
                                                                          perform.
—     for the purpose of Article 67 of the Staff Regulations, the
      orphan’s pension is not of like nature to the dependent
      child allowance. Therefore, the payments made by the
      administration until February 2002 were not manifestly              In addition, the applicants claim that the Commission commit-
      irregular; rather, it is the deductions under the contested         ted a manifest error of assessment in finding that, in the
      decision which are in point of fact irregular.                      present case, the limitation on the freedom of athletes is not a
                                                                          restriction of competition within the meaning of Article 81
                                                                          EC, on the ground that such a limitation is inherent in the
                                                                          organisation and smooth running of competitive sport. The
                                                                          Commission’s findings constitute a manifest misapplication of
                                                                          the criteria laid down by the Court of Justice in paragraph 97
                                                                          of the judgment in Wouters ( 1) and the restrictive effects of the
                                                                          IOC rules in question are clearly not inherent in the pursuit of
                                                                          the praiseworthy aims of the campaign against doping.
Action brought on 11 October 2002 by David Meca-
                                                                          According to the applicants, it is for the Commission — in
Medina and Igor Majcen against the Commission of the                      accordance with the ‘necessity test’ and/or the ‘proportionality
                    European Communities
                                                                          test’ — to declare that a rule which has been proven to have
                                                                          no scientific basis can in no way satisfy the requirements of
                          (Case T-313/02)                                 such tests.
                         (2002/C 305/62)
                                                                          Finally, the Commission’s assessment is manifestly incorrect in
                                                                          so far as it fails to recognise Article 49 EC as having any direct
                   (Language of the case: French)                         horizontal effect. It must be found that, since they do not
                                                                          satisfy a ‘test of necessity’, the contested IOC rules also infringe
                                                                          Article 49 EC.
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                (1 ) Case C-309/99 Wouters [2002] ECR I-1577.
European Communities on 11 October 2002 by David Meca-
Medina, residing in Barcelona (Spain), and Igor Majcen, residing
in Ljubljana (Slovenia), represented by J.-L. Dupont, lawyer.
The applicants claim that the Court should:
—     annul the Commission’s decision notified to the appli-
      cants on 5 August 2002 rejecting the complaint of                   Action brought on 15 October 2002 by Marie-Claude
      31 May 2001 against the International Olympic Com-                  Girardot against the Commission of the European Com-
      mittee;                                                                                             munities
                                                                                                    (Case T-316/02)
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                                    (2002/C 305/63)
By the contested decision, the Commission rejected the
complaint lodged by the applicants, who are professional                                       (Language of the case: French)
swimmers, that certain practices and rules of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) concerning the fight against doping
were contrary to European competition law. The applicants
objected, in particular, to the fact that, in connection with the
detection of the substance nandrolone, the IOC continues to               An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
apply a maximum level which has now been found to lack                    ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
scientific merit.                                                         European Communities on 15 October 2002 by Marie-Claude