CELEX: C1997/074/17
Language: en
Date: 1997-03-08 00:00:00
Title: ORDER OF THE COURT (Fourth Chamber) of 28 November 1996 in Case C-277/95 P: Erika Lenz and Volker Lenz v. Commission of the European Communities (Officials - Time-limit for the bringing of an action for damages by the spouse or child of an official - Principle of res judicata - Manifest inadmissibility)

No C 74/ 10             EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                     8 . 3 . 97
                    ORDER OF THE COURT                                          relevant to the subject-matter under examination, the
                        ( Fourth Chamber)                                       case where an importer acting in good faith and with
                                                                                the authorization of the customs authority took
                      of 28 November 1996
                                                                                delivery of and placed into circulation products
in Case C-2 77/95 P: Erika Lenz and Volker Lenz v.                              imported from a non-member State, without paying
          Commission of the European Communities (')                            the countervailing charge imposed by Commission
                                                                                Regulation ( EEC ) No 1591/92 ( 3 ), where that omission
(Officials — Time-limit for the bringing of an action for                       is attributable to the fact that the competent customs
damages by the spouse or child of an official — Principle                       authority was not aware of the existence of that
           of res judicata — Manifest inadmissibility)                          Regulation owing either to the lack of any machinery
                             ( 97/C 74/ 17 )                                    for punctual communication to it of the applicability
                                                                                of a Community rule having direct application or to a
                 (Language of the case: German)                                 failure of coordination between the Community and
                                                                                national bodies involved, or to any other reason
                                                                                unconnected with any action taken by the importer, or
  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
                                                                                does the adoption of the Regulation afford sufficient
           published in the European Court Reports)
                                                                                warrant on its own for the post-clearance imposition
                                                                                of the countervailing charge ?
In Case C-277/95 P: an appeal against the order of the
Court of First Instance of the European Communities                        2.   Are the time-limits laid down in Articles 3 and 5
( Fourth Chamber) of 14 June 1995 in Cases T-462/93 ,
T-464/93       and   T-470/93       Lenz     v.  Commission,     not
                                                                                of Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 1854/85 (4 ) for
                                                                                determining customs duty preclusive in the sense that
published in the European Court Reports, seeking to have
that order set aside, the other party to the proceedings                        the expiry thereof with action not having been taken
                                                                                nullifies the right of the customs authorities to
being: Commission of the European Communities ( Agent:
Julian Curall, assisted by Bertrand Wagenbaur, of the                           determine and collect the countervailing charge ?
                                                                                Furthermore, in the absence of exceptional
Hamburg Bar ), — the Court ( Fourth Chamber ), composed
                                                                                circumstances or a situation of force majeure, can the
of: J. L. Murray ( Rapporteur), President of the Chamber,
                                                                                lapse of time amounting to upwards of five months
C. N. Kakouris and P. J. G. Kapteyn, Judges; A. La
                                                                                from the time when the customs authority became
Pergola, Advocate-General; R. Grass, Registrar, has given
                                                                                aware of the situation and was in a position to
a judgment on 28 November 1996 in which it:
                                                                                calculate the amount due be regarded as exceeding a
                                                                                reasonable period within which it ought to have
1 . dismisses the appeal;                                                       acted ?
2 . orders Erika Lenz and Volker Lenz to pay the costs.                    3 . Does the imposition of the countervailing charge in
                                                                                issue concern solely fresh dessert cherries or also
(>) OJ No C 268 , 14 . 10 . 1995 .                                              cherries intended for industrial processing ?
                                                                           (') OJ  No  L 175 , 12 . 7. 1979 , p. 1 .
                                                                           (2) OJ  No  L 197,  3 . 8 . 1979, p . 1 .
                                                                           (3) OJ  No  L 168 , 23 . 6 . 1992 , p . 18 .
                                                                           (4) OJ  No  L 186 , 30 . 6 . 1989, p . 1 .
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Diikitiko Efetio,
Salonika (Third section ) by judgment of that court of
24 October 1996 in the case of Covita AVE against the
                              Greek State
                          ( Case C-3 70/96 )
                                                                           Reference for a preliminary ruling from the
                             ( 97/C 74/18 )                                Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main by order of that
                                                                           court of 9 December 1996 in the commercial registration
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                     case brought by the European Information Technology
European Communities by judgment of the Diikitiko                               Observatory, a European Economic Interest Group
Efetio (Administrative Court of Appeal ), Salonika (Third                                              ( Case C-402/96 )
section ) of 24 October 1996, received at the Court
                                                                                                          ( 97/C 74/ 19 )
Registry on 25 November 1996, for a preliminary ruling
in the case of Covita AVE against the Greek State on the
following questions :                                                      Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of
                                                                           the European Communities by an order of the
1 . May the terms ' special circumstances' and 'error made                 Oberlandesgericht ( Higher Regional Court ) Frankfurt am
     by the competent authorities' used in Article 13 of                   Main of 9 December 1996 , which was received at the
     Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 1430/79 (') and Article 5               Court Registry on 23 December 1996 , for a preliminary
     ( 2 ) of Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 1697/79 (2 )                   ruling in the commercial registration case brought by the
    respectively be interpreted as including, each one                     European Information Technology Observatory, a
     separately or in conjunction both with each other and                 European Economic Interest Group on the following
    such other provisions or principles as may be                          question: