CELEX: C2000/149/79
Language: en
Date: 2000-05-27 00:00:00
Title: Case T-77/00: Action brought on 3 April 2000 by Esat Telecommunications Ltd., against the Commission of the European Communities

27.5.2000                EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      C 149/43
— The evaluation carried out of the safety and efficacy of                 — The Commission based its conclusions on an incorrect
     amfepramon has no valid scientific basis. Criteria were used              analysis of the relevant market, contrary to its own
     for assessment which are applicable only in procedures for                decisional practice.
     new authorisations or extensions. Such procedures are,
     however, within the competence of the Member States.                  — Contrary to the findings in the contested decision, Telecom
     The decision is therefore also void on the ground of misuse               Éireann abused its dominant position by refusing to
     of powers.                                                                provide proper access to the applicant, by offering bundled
                                                                               access conditions on a retail basis and by discriminating
                                                                               between the access conditions granted to the applicant and
(1) Second Council Directive 75/319/EEC of 20 May 1975 on the                  other telecommunications operators.
    approximation of provisions laid down by law, regulation or
    administrative action relating to proprietary medicinal products
    (OJ 1975 L 147, p. 13).                                                — Basing itself on the assumption that the available evidence
(2) Council Directive 65/65/EEC of 26 January 1965 on the approxi-             was insufficient to prove that Telecom Éireann abused
    mation of provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrat-          its dominant position, the applicant submits that the
    ive action relating to proprietary medicinal products (OJ, English         Commission misused its powers by refusing to conduct the
    Special Edition 1965-1966, p. 20).                                         additional proceedings required to establish this evidence.
Action brought on 3 April 2000 by Esat Telecommuni-                        Action brought on 3 April 2000 by Sumitomo Metal
cations Ltd., against the Commission of the European                       Industries Limited against the Commission of the Euro-
                             Communities                                                         pean Communities
                            (Case T-77/00)                                                          (Case T-78/00)
                           (2000/C 149/79)                                                         (2000/C 149/80)
                     (Language of the case: English)                                         (Language of the case: English)
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                  An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                 ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 3 April 2000 by Esat Telecom-                      European Communities on 3 April 2000 by Sumitomo Metal
munications Ltd., Dublin, represented by Bernard Amory and                 Industries Limited, Osaka (Japan), represented by Christopher
Alexandre Verheyden of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Brussels.               Vajda QC and David Aitman, Solicitor.
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                The applicant claims that the Court should:
— declare the defendant’s decision of 18 January 2000 to be                — annul Articles 1 to 5 of the decision in so far as they are
     void;                                                                     addressed to the applicant;
— order the defendant to pay the costs.                                    — alternatively, annul Article 4 of the decision in so far as it
                                                                               imposes a fine of 13.5 million euro on SMI and fix a
                                                                               substantially lower fine;
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                           — order the Commission to pay the costs of the proceedings.
The applicant is a licensed provider of telecommunications
services in Ireland. In 1996 it lodged an application for the
                                                                           Pleas in law and main arguments
initiation of a procedure to establish the existence of an
infringement of Article 86 of the EC Treaty (now Article 82
EC) by Telecom Éireann (now called Eircom). The alleged                   According to the applicant, the contested decision finds two
infringement related to the withdrawal by Telecom Éireann of              sets of agreements that infringe Article 81 EC. The first set was
the standard discounts, which it made available to its large-              found to exist between four European producers of seamless
volume end users and to its failure to provide the applicant               standard OCTG and line pipe and four Japanese producers,
with equitable interconnection tariffs. The applicant seeks at             including the applicant (‘EU/Japan agreement’). The second
present the annulment of the Commission decision rejecting                 agreement was found to exist between the European producers
its complaint in particular on following grounds:                          (‘EU Agreement’).