CELEX: C2004/059/49
Language: en
Date: 2004-03-06 00:00:00
Title: Case T-440/03: Action brought on 29 December 2003 by Jean Arizmendi and 43 other applicants against the Council of the European Union and the Commission of the European Communities

6.3.2004                 EN                         Official Journal of the European Union                                           C 59/31
Action brought on 29 December 2003 by Jean Arizmendi                        —     Breach of the principles of legal certainty and legitimate
and 43 other applicants against the Council of the Euro-                          expectations, in that, first, the contested provision refers
      pean Union and the Commission of the European                               to customs representation, which is a separate matter
                             Communities                                          from presentation of goods at customs which is the task
                                                                                  of the applicants, and, secondly, the monopoly was
                                                                                  abolished without any form of transitional measure.
                           (Case T-440/03)
                                                                            —     Breach of the principles of equality and proportionality,
                            (2004/C 59/49)                                        in that the abrupt opening-up of the market in presen-
                                                                                  tation of goods at customs has resulted in a draconian
                                                                                  reduction in prices, which ships brokers, who are handi-
                     (Language of the case: French)                               capped by the restrictive rules under which they operate,
                                                                                  cannot resist, in the absence of any transitional measures.
                                                                            Lastly, the applicants allege breach of the right to property, as
An action against the Council of the European Union and the                 laid down in the First Protocol to the European Convention on
Commission of the European Communities was brought                          Human Rights.
before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities
on 29 December 2003 by Jean Arizmendi and 43 other
applicants, all residing in France, represented by Jean-François            (1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992
Péricaud and Philippe Péricaud, lawyers.                                        establishing the Community Customs Code (OJ 1992 L 302, p. 1).
The applicants claim that the Court should:
1.     Order the Council of the European Union and the
       Commission of the European Communities jointly and
       severally to pay to each applicant the compensation
       representing the loss suffered, together with interest at            Action brought on 31 December 2003 by N.V. Firma
       the legal rate from the date the application was lodged;             Léon Van Parys, N.V. Pacific Fruit Company, Pacific
                                                                            Fruchtimport GmbH and Pacific Fruit Company Italy
                                                                                   S.p.A. against the Commission of the European
2.     Order the Council of the European Union and the                                                  Communities
       Commission of the European Communities jointly and
       severally to pay the costs.
                                                                                                      (Case T-441/03)
                                                                                                       (2004/C 59/50)
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                                 (Language of the case: Dutch)
The subject matter of the present action is the loss allegedly
suffered by the applicants, who are French ship brokers, as a
result of the abolition in French law, under Law 2001-43 of                 An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
16 January 2001, of the monopoly traditionally held by French               ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
ship brokers. This abolition occurred by reason of Article 5                European Communities on 31 December 2003 by N.V. Firma
of the Community Customs Code (1), as applied by the                        Léon Van Parys, established in Antwerp (Belgium), N.V. Pacific
Commission, when steps were taken following infringement                    Fruit Company, established in Antwerp (Belgium), Pacific
proceedings against the French Republic (letter of formal                   Fruchtimport GmbH, established in Hamburg (Germany), and
notice of 12 February 1997 and reasoned opinion of 3 Decem-                 Pacific Fruit Company Italy S.p.A., established in Rome (Italy),
ber 1997) concerning the monopoly held by ship brokers,                     represented by P. Vlaemminck and J. Holmens.
under French law, in respect of representation for performing
the acts and formalities laid down by customs rules.
                                                                            The applicants claim that the Court should:
In support of their claims, the applicants contend that the                 1.    order the defendant to pay compensation under
abolition of the monopoly is an act for which the Commission                      Article 235 EC in conjunction with Article 288 EC for
is liable for the following reasons:                                              the damage suffered by the applicants as a result of the
                                                                                  unlawful measures introduced by Commission Regulation
—      Breach of Article 55 of the EC Treaty (now Article 45                      No 2362/98, including default interest of 8 % to be paid
       EC), in that ship brokers, in implementing customs                         on all amounts with effect from the date on which the
       legislation, participate in the exercise of official authority.            damage was caused;