CELEX: C1996/269/63
Language: en
Date: 1996-09-14 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 29 July 1996 by X against the European Parliament (Case T-119/96)

14 . 9 . 96            EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 269/29
Instance of the European Communities on 26 July 1996 by                question was decided on following the procedure laid down
Biscuiterie-Confiserie LOR whose registered office is at               in Article 17 of Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 2081 /92 , in
Perpignan ( France ) and Confiserie du TECH whose                      which other parties do not have the opportunity to make
registered office is at Cabestany ( France ), represented by           their views known . Consequently, the decision was not
Nicolas Boespflug, of the Paris Bar .                                  taken with full knowledge of the facts, since the applicants
                                                                       were not able to put forward their arguments .
The applicant claims that the Court should :
— annul Commission Regulation ( EC ) No 1107/96 of
      12 June 1996 on the registration of geographical
      indications and designations of origin under the
      procedure laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation          Action brought on 29 July 1996 by X against the European
                                                                                                    Parliament
      ( EEC ) No 2081 /92 in so far as it registered the names
      'Turron de Jijona ' and 'Turron de Alicante ' as protected                               ( Case T-l 19/96 )
      geographical indications,                                                                  ( 96/C 269/63 )
— order the defendant to pay the costs .                                               (Language of the case: French)
                                                                       An action against the European Parliament was brought
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                    before the Court of First Instance of the European
                                                                       Communities on 29 July 1996 by X, represented by
The applicant companies, which have for many years                     Jean-Noel Louis, Thierry Demaseure and Ariane Tornel of
manufactured 'tourons ' in France under the names ' touron             the Brussels Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg
Jijona' and ' touron Alicante ', claim that the contested              at the office of Fiduciaire Myson SARL, 1 rue Glesener.
measure was adopted in breach of Article 3 of Council
Regulation ( EEC ) No 2081 /92 of 14 July 1992 on the                  The applicant claims that the Court should :
protection of geographical indications and designations of
origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs, which
provides that names that have become generic may not be                — annul the decision of the appointing authority to treat
registered ; a generic name is the name of an agricultural                  the applicant's absences between March and October
product or a foodstuff which , although it relates to the place             1995 as unauthorized, to deduct them from his days of
or the region where this product was originaly produced or                  annual leave and , when his leave was used up, to deduct
marketed , has become the common name of an agricultural                    an amount equivalent to the remuneration to which he is
                                                                            entitled,
product or a foodstuff.
                                                                       — annul the decision of 18 April 1996 of the
 In their view, the names 'Jijona ' and ' Alicante' used to                 Secretary-General of the European Parliament expressly
describe 'tourons ' are unquestionably generic .                            rejecting his complaint,
                                                                       — order the defendant to pay the costs .
The applicants state that in the Roussillon the manufacture
 of 'tourons ' is traditional , in particular a hard and a soft
 'touron' called 'Alicante' and 'Jijona ' respectively , after the      Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
 names of the towns where they originated ; consequently, in
 the minds of French consumers those names, when they are
 used to describe 'tourons', are not connected to the Spanish           The applicant, an official in grade C 3 of the European
 towns of those names . The applicants point out that even in           Parliament who, according to the contested decision, has
 Spain the names 'Jijona ' and ' Alicante' are used as synonyms         been absent from work without permission, challenges that
 for ' soft' and ' hard ' to designate ' types' and 'varieties' of      finding of the appointing authority, its deduction of the
 'turron ', whatever the origin of the 'turron ' in question ; they     alleged absences from his days of leave and , when they were
 also note that ' turrones ' have been marketed under the               used up, its deduction of an amount equivalent to the
                                                                        remuneration to which he is entitled .
 names 'Jijona ' and 'Alicante' by many major Spanish
 ' turron ' manufacturers established in towns other than
 Jijona and Alicante . The applicants add that in legal                 He claims, inter alia, that the allegedly unauthorized
 proceedings in France the names in question have been                  absences which are the subject-matter of the contested
 found to be generic .                                                  decision , are justified on medical grounds and that in any
                                                                        event his immediate superiors were informed of the reasons
                                                                        for his absence . Moreover, he asserts that the medical
 Furthermore , the applicants consider that there are                   certificate drawn up by his doctor provides justification for
 particular grounds for annulment of the contested                      most of the absences at issue . The European Parliament has
 Regulation on the point in dispute in that the registration in         none the less treated those absences as unauthorized ,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 269/30         EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                    14 . 9 . 96
without making the slightest attempt to establish whether         required in order to obtain permission to spend his
the day's or half-day's absences to which it objects were         convalescent leave abroad .
warranted by the applicant's state of health .
                                                                  He considers that the appointing authority was in any event
He notes that as regards the monitoring of absence in             required to seek the opinion of the Invalidity Committee .
August and September 1 995 , his doctor considered, and was
not contradicted by the inspecting doctor, that the applicant     All that, in his view, constitutes infringement of Articles 25 ,
was not fit to complete the administrative formalities            59 and 60 of the Staff Regulations .