CELEX: C2003/289/68
Language: en
Date: 2003-11-29 00:00:00
Title: Case T-338/03: Action brought on 25 September 2003 by Eridania Sadam S.p.A. and Others against the Commission of the European Communities

29.11.2003               EN                         Official Journal of the European Union                                          C 289/33
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                 Sadam S.p.A. and Others, represented by Gualtiero Pittalis,
                                                                            Ivano Vigliotti, Gian Michele Roberti, Paolo Ziotti and Alessan-
—     annul the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the               dra Franchi, against the Commission of the European Com-
      Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade                munities.
      Marks and Designs) of 20 June 2003 (Case R 348/2002-
      4) in so far as if concluded that trade mark No 1 575 521
      does not satisfy the requirements of Article 7(1)(b) and              The applicants claim that the Court should:
      (c) of Regulation No 40/94;
                                                                            —     annul Article 1(c) of Commission Regulation (EC) No
—     order publication of Community trade mark                                   1158/2003 of 30 June 2003 fixing the derived inter-
      no 1 575 521 under Article 40 of Regulation No 40/94;                       vention price for white sugar for the 2003/04 marketing
                                                                                  year for all areas in Italy;
—     in the alternative, refer the case back to the Board of
      Appeal for determination;
                                                                            —     in the alternative, declare under Article 241 EC that
                                                                                  Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 of
—     order the defendant to pay the costs.                                       19 June 2001 on the common organisation of the
                                                                                  markets in the sugar sector is unlawful and inapplicable;
Pleas in law and main arguments                                             —     order the Commission to pay the costs.
Community trade mark            Word mark ‘EUROPREMIUM’ —
sought:                         application no 1 575 521
                                                                            Pleas in law and main arguments
Goods or services:              Goods and services in Classes 16,
                                20, 35 and 39 (including paper,
                                goods made of wood, advertising             By the present action, the applicant companies challenge
                                and transport and storage)                  Commission Regulation (EC) No 1158/2003 of 30 June 2003
                                                                            fixing the derived intervention prices for white sugar for the
Decision appealed to the        Refusal by the examiner to register         2003/04 marketing year (‘the contested regulation’) (1). In
Board of Appeal:                                                            support of their action the applicants raise the pleas in law set
                                                                            out below.
Decision of the Board of        Dismissal of the appeal
Appeal:
                                                                            First, the applicants submit that, in several respects, the
Pleas in law:                   —    the trade mark is sufficiently         contested regulation is in conflict with the basic regulation
                                     distinctive                            adopted by the Council in the form of Regulation (EC)
                                                                            No 1260/2001 of 19 June 2001 (2).
                                —    there is no need to preserve
                                     the availability of the mark
                                     as it is not descriptive               In particular, the applicants complain that the contested
                                                                            regulation erroneously classifies Italy as a ‘deficit area’ for the
                                                                            supply of sugar, thereby applying the system of derived prices
                                                                            (known as ‘Regionalisation’) to Italy. That classification, based,
                                                                            in the applicants’ view, on an incorrect analysis of the
                                                                            economic situation, prejudices them in so far as the introduc-
                                                                            tion of derived prices results in an increase in the production
                                                                            costs for sugar undertakings operating in Italy. In particular,
Action brought on 25 September 2003 by Eridania Sadam                       according to the applicants, when assessing Italian domestic
S.p.A. and Others against the Commission of the European                    supply, the Commission failed to take account of the quantities
                            Communities                                     of white sugar imported free of duty from the Balkan countries.
                                                                            Those imports significantly alter the conditions in which the
                          (Case T-338/03)                                   common organisation of the market functions bringing about
                                                                            significant imbalances which appear more serious following
                                                                            the application of regionalisation to the Italian market.
                          (2003/C 289/68)
                    (Language of the case: Italian)                         The applicants therefore consider that Article 1(c) of the
                                                                            contested regulation is both flawed in terms of its assumptions
                                                                            and potentially contrary in its effects to the Community
                                                                            principles on which the common agricultural policy is based,
An action was brought before the Court of First Instance of                 the WTO rules relating to sugar and the principles of
the European Communities on 25 September 2003 by Eridania                   proportionality and non-discrimination.
 ---pagebreak--- C 289/34              EN                          Official Journal of the European Union                                       29.11.2003
In the event that the Court does not make the declaration                 —     annul the decision of the Commission of 1 October 2003
primarily sought against the contested regulation, the appli-                   fixing the new organigram of DG ESTAT in so far as it
cants seek in the alternative a declaration from the Court that                 does not thereby constitute a reassignment of the appli-
Article 2 of Regulation No 1260/2001 is unlawful and                            cant where another individual reassignment measure is
inapplicable in so far as it enables the Commission when                        ordered in addition;
setting the derived intervention price on the basis of market
trends to disregard the effect of unrestricted imports free of            —     order the Commission to pay her EUR 25 000 by way of
duty.                                                                           compensation for the non-material damage suffered as a
                                                                                result of irregular conduct;
Second, the applicants assert that the statement of reasons for           —     order the Commission to pay the costs in their entirety.
the contested regulation appears inadequate and contradictory
given that, by that measure, the Commission has altered its
own practice of preceding years — inasmuch as Italy was not
included in the States covered by regionalisation — without
                                                                          Pleas in law and main arguments
any objective justification for that change and without taking
account of the specific situation arising from the abovemen-
tioned imports free of duty of white sugar from the Balkans.
                                                                          The applicant, a Commission official, was transferred on
                                                                          16 January 2003 to Eurostat as Director of the Social Statistics
                                                                          Directorate. On 9 July 2003, in view of the serious irregularities
Third, and in the alternative, the applicants submit that even            which allegedly took place in Eurostat, the Commission
without taking account of the imports free of duty of white
                                                                          decided to move all Eurostat’s directors, including the appli-
sugar from the Balkans in assessing domestic supply, the                  cant, to posts as Principal Advisers. On 1 October 2003, the
Commission should not deemed Italy to be a ‘deficit area’.                Commission decided on a new structure for the reformed DG
                                                                          ESTAT departments and decided that, in principle, it would
                                                                          open applications for the posts in the new directorates to both
(1) OJ L 162 of 1.7.2003, p. 24.
                                                                          external and internal applicants, without taking account of the
(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 of 19 June 2001 on the
    common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector (OJ            applicant. The applicant contests both those decisions claiming
    L 178 of 30.6.2001, p. 1).                                            that the alleged irregularities within Eurostat took place until
                                                                          2001 at the latest, while she was not posted there until 2003
                                                                          and was thus not involved in them. In support of her
                                                                          application, she alleges infringement of Articles 4, 7, 24, 25
                                                                          and 47 of the Staff Regulations, breach of the principle of
                                                                          equal treatment and of prohibition of discrimination, the
                                                                          principle of sound administration, the principles ‘audi alteram
                                                                          partem’ and ‘patere legem’, manifest error of assessment, abuse
                                                                          of process and misuse of powers.
Action brought on 6 October 2003 by Gabrielle Clotuche
  against the Commission of the European Communities
                         (Case T-339/03)
                         (2003/C 289/69)
                                                                          Action brought on 2 October 2003 by Wanadoo Inter-
                   (Language of the case: French)                         active S.A. against the Commission of the European
                                                                                                     Communities
                                                                                                   (Case T-340/03)
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                                                   (2003/C 289/70)
European Communities on 6 October 2003 by Gabrielle
Clotuche, residing in Brussels, represented by Pierre-Paul Van
Gehuchten, Gilbert Demez Jacques Sambon, lawyers.                                             (Language of the case: French)
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                          An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
—     annul the decision of the Commission of 9 July 2003 to              ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
      reassign the applicant by transfer in the interest of the           European Communities on 2 October 2003 by Wanadoo
      service from her post as Director of the Social Statistics          Interactive S.A., whose registered office is in Issy-les-Mou-
      Directorate at Eurostat to a post as Principal Adviser at           lineaux (France), represented by O.W. Brouwer, H. Calvet,
      Eurostat;                                                           M. Pittie and J. Philippe, lawyers.