CELEX: C2003/184/46
Language: en
Date: 2003-08-02 00:00:00
Title: Case C-249/03: Action brought on 10 June 2003 by the Commission of the European Communities against (1) "TASEIS TRENDS" (Transport Environment Development Systems) and (2) Marios Kontaratos and Others

C 184/26               EN                         Official Journal of the European Union                                            2.8.2003
Action brought on 10 June 2003 by the Commission of the                   Commission. Since the defendant did not produce the evidence
European Communities against (1) ‘TASEIS TRENDS’                          needed to overturn the audit's conclusions, the Commission
(Transport Environment Development Systems) and (2)                       considered the contracts to be terminated and sought reimbur-
                  Marios Kontaratos and Others                            sement of the sums overpaid.
                          (Case C-249/03)                                 The Commission pleads:
                          (2003/C 184/46)                                 —     in support of its principal claim: Article 8,2 of Annex II
                                                                                to the contracts, which provides that the Commission
                                                                                may terminate the contract inter alia if, in order to obtain
                                                                                the financial contribution of the Commission, or any
An action against (1) ‘TASEIS TRENDS’ (Transport Environ-                       other advantage under the contract, a contractor has
ment Development Systems) and (2) Marios Kontaratos and                         made false or incomplete statements for which it may
Others was brought before the Court of Justice of the                           properly be held responsible;
European Communities on 10 June 2003 by the Commission
of the European Communities, represented by Maria Patakia, of             —     in support of the principal head of claim regarding
its Legal Service, Maria Bra, of the Brussels Bar, and                          payment of interest: the second subparagraph of
K. Kapoutzidou, of the Athens Bar, with an address for service                  Article 8,4 of Annex II to the contracts, which provides
in Luxembourg.                                                                  that interest is due from the date on which the payments
                                                                                in question were received, at the rate applied by the
                                                                                European Monetary Cooperation Fund (now the European
The Commission claims that the Court should:                                    Central Bank) increased by two percentage points;
—     allow the application in its entirety;                              —     in support of the alternative head of claim regarding
                                                                                payment of interest: Article 94 of Commission Regulation
—     order the defendant partnership ‘TASEIS TRENDS’ and the                   No 3418/93 of 9 December 1993 laying down detailed
      defendants who are members thereof to reimburse to the                    rules for the implementation of certain provisions of the
      Commission the entire amount of the wrongly made                          Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977 (2).
      advance payments received by the defendant partnership
      from the Community in respect of the contracts at issue,
      that is to say the sum of EUR 195 435, together with                (1) OJ L 206, 30.7.1988, p. 1.
                                                                          (2) OJ L 315, 16.12.1993, p. 1.
      contractual interest in respect of the period from the date
      of mispayment, the interest calculated in that way
      amounting on 30 September 2002 to EUR 84 489,14
      and thereafter EUR 35,45 (29,17 plus 6,28) per day until
      the defendant's debt has been fully discharged, or, in the
      alternative, interest for late payment under Article 94 of
      Commission Regulation No 3418/93 on the whole sum
      of EUR 195 345, at a rate of 5,50% from 31 December
      1998 (when the period laid down by the order for                    Action brought on 11 June 2003 by the Commission of
      payment expired) until the defendant's debt has been fully          the European Communities against the Portuguese
      discharged, amounting up until 30 September 2002 to                                                Republic
      EUR 40 315,83 and thereafter EUR 29,45 per day;
                                                                                                    (Case C-251/03)
—     order the defendants to pay the costs.
                                                                                                    (2003/C 184/47)
Pleas in law and main arguments                                           An action against the Portuguese Republic was brought before
                                                                          the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 11 June
The defendant ‘TASEIS TRENDS’ is a civil-law partnership                  2003 by the Commission of the European Communities,
governed by Greek law, which has as its object the promotion              represented by António Caeiros and Gregorio Valero Jordana,
of research and the dissemination of information on proble-               acting as Agents.
matical issues in relation to the environment, development,
town planning, transport and so forth. It concluded with the              The applicant claims that the Court should:
Commission, within the framework of Council Decision 88/
416/EEC of 29 June 1988 on a Community programme in the
                                                                          —     declare that, by failing to adopt the necessary measures to
field of road transport informatics and telecommunications
                                                                                ensure that water intended for human consumption meets
(Drive) (1), the following contracts: (i) Contract BATT — V
                                                                                the requirements laid down in Annex I to Council Direc-
2029 (implementation of the project ‘BATT — Behaviour and
                                                                                tive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980 relating to the quality of
ATT’) and (ii) Contract MIRO — V 2060 (implementation of
                                                                                water intended for human consumption, the Portuguese
the project ‘Mobility impact, reactions and opinions’).
                                                                                Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 7
                                                                                (6) of that directive; and
Serious financial contraventions on the part of the defendant
were found following audits by the Court of Auditors and the              —     order the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs.