CELEX: C1997/199/78
Language: en
Date: 1997-06-28 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 18 April 1997 by Salomon SA against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-123/97)

28 . 6 . 97            EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 199/31
steelworks      and   rolling     mills     amounts      to   serious      1 590 000 000 ( ECU 118 000 000 ) to be compatible with
discrimination against the applicant, whose production                     the common market .
operations are based on a single working shift per day, by
contrast with steel mills which average three shifts daily.
Furthermore, the regularity of its production has been                     This action challenges the legal assessment from the
impaired by measures adopted by the local authorities                      standpoint of Article 92 et seq of the EC Treaty, and
prohibiting night-time production operations since, having                 challenges the Commission's decision inasmuch as it
regard to the cost of electricity, those hours are the most                confirms the payment of OS 1 273 000 000 ( ECU
economic .                                                                 95 000 000 ) already conditionally approved by the
                                                                           Commission and grants further aid of OS 317 000 000
(') Commission Decision No 3855/91 /ECSC of 27 November                    ( ECU 23 000 000 ). It also challenges the undertakings and
    1991 establishing Community rules for aid to the steel                 conditions on the part of the Austrian authorities laid
    industry ( OJ No L 362 , 31 . 12 . 1991 , p. 57 ).                     down in Article 2 of the decision in that they are not
                                                                           proportionate to the amount of the aid granted and thus
                                                                           infringe the rules laid down by the Commission itself in its
                                                                           ' Community Guidelines on State Aid for Rescuing and
                                                                           Restructuring Firms in Difficulty' ( 1 ).
Action brought on 18 April 1997 by Salomon SA against                      In support of its action, the applicant maintains that there
        the Commission of the European Communities                         has been :
                        ( Case T-123/97 )
                          ( 97/C 199/78 )
                                                                           — a      manifest error of assessment inasmuch        as the
                                                                                Commission held the general conditions               for
                 (Language of the case: French)                                 authorizing payment of aid to have been satisfied,
An action against the Commission of the European
                                                                           — a manifest error of assessment and infringement of
Communities was brought before the Court of First
                                                                                Article 92 ( 3 ) ( c ) of the EC Treaty in that the aid
Instance of the European Communities on 18 April 1997
                                                                                granted by the Austrian Government:
by Salomon SA, whose registered office is at Pringy
( France ), represented by Loraine Donnedieu de Vabres and
Jean-Pierre Jouyet, of the Paris Bar, with an address for                      — are not capable of restoring the viability of HTM
service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Aloyse May,                                 within a reasonable time,
31 Grand-Rue .
                                                                               — are not capable of preventing               unjustified
The applicant claims that the Court should :                                         distortions of competition, and
— annul Commission Decision 97/8 1 /EC of 30 luly                              — are disproportionate in relation to the costs and
     1996 ,                                                                          advantages of the restructuring,
— order the Commission to pay the costs .
                                                                           — a manifest error of assessment and infringement of
                                                                                Article 92 ( 3 ) ( c ) of the EC Treaty:
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                               — as regards the implementation of the restructuring
Austria Tabakwerke AG ('AT') is a public holding                                     plan and compliance with the conditions imposed,
company that is 100% owned by the Republic of Austria .
Head Tyrolia Mares ('HTM ') is an Austrian holding
company which groups together undertakings which                               — in that the Commission will not be in a position to
manufacture and market sports equipment, especially for                              exercise its supervision;
winter sports, tennis and diving.
                                                                           — infringement of Article 190 of the EC Treaty in that
The applicant is a direct competitor of HTM in the                              the Commission has not stated sufficient reasons for
markets for winter sports ( skis, bindings and ski boots ),                     its decision .
sports shoes and walking boots .
                                                                           (') OJ No C 368 , 23 . 12 . 1994 , p . 12 .
On 30 July 1996, the Commission declared the whole of
the aid already granted, or remaining to be granted, by AT
to HTM in the form of capital injections of OS