CELEX: C1998/327/53
Language: en
Date: 1998-10-24 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 10 August 1998 by Enrico Sabbioni against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-129/98)

C 327/30              EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                   24.10.98
Ð in the alternative, accord the product favourable tariff          The applicant claims that the Court should:
    arrangements on the ground of its particular use;
                                                                    Ð annul the contested provisions and, primarily, the
                                                                        decision of 17 October 1997, whereby the
Ð order the Commission to pay the costs of these                        Commission transferred him of its own motion to
    proceedings.                                                        another division;
                                                                    Ð order the Commission to pay the applicant ECU
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                     10 000 by way of compensation for non-material
                                                                        damage;
The applicant is the importer of a product called                   Ð order the Commission to pay all expenses and costs
Lyostart', which is used exclusively as a culture medium               incurred in the proceedings.
and is thus classified under CN code 3821 00 00. In
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1160/98 of 2 June 1998
concerning the classification of certain goods in the               Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Combined Nomenclature (1), the defendant classified
certain products, including the product in issue, under CN
code 0404 90 21, on the ground that they could not be               The applicant, who is an official on the scientific and
considered to be culture media for the development of               technical staff of the Joint Research Centre at Ispra
micro-organisms.                                                    contests a number of decisions by means of which he was
                                                                    transferred to another unit, removed from his duties as
                                                                    head of security for Buildings Nos 46, 46d and 32b and
                                                                    from the Centre's Committee for radioactive and fissile
The applicant submits that the contested decision was               material (hereinafter the Committee').
taken without its being heard and, moreover, without
seeking the opinion required by Article 190 of the EC
Treaty. Moreover, classification under CN code                      The applicant puts forward the following pleas in support
0404 90 21 expressly refers to agri-food products such as           of his claims:
milk and its by-products, while heading 3821 00 00 covers
prepared culture media in which micro-organisms required
for scientific purposes or in industry can find nourishment         Ð Failure to state adequate reasons for the contested
and multiply. On that point, it is important to stress that             measures. Despite the fact that the contested decisions
there is no alternative to the use of milk by-products for              had a considerable impact on the applicant's
the industrial development of lactic ferments.                          administrative situation, they consist only of an
                                                                        operative part, baldly stated. In particular, the reasons
                                                                        for removing the applicant from the Committee are
(1) OJ L 160, 4.6.1998, p. 20.
                                                                        obscure and incomprehensible.
                                                                    Ð Misuse of powers. The intention underlying the
                                                                        applicant's removal was to get rid of an official whose
                                                                        legitimate expectation Ð of being appointed head of
                                                                        the unit of which he had once been in charge Ð had
                                                                        been frustrated and who, through no fault of his own,
Action brought on 10 August 1998 by Enrico Sabbioni                     had become a source of embarrassment and a living
   against the Commission of the European Communities                   reproach.
                       (Case T-129/98)
                         (98/C 327/53)                              Ð Breach of the safety regulations. Closure of the
                                                                        laboratories in Buildings Nos 46, 46d and 32b and
                                                                        the applicant's removal from his duties as official
                                                                        responsible for security constitute a specific
                (Language of the case: Italian)                         infringement of the safety regulations governed by
                                                                        agreement and those in force at the Centre. Closure of
                                                                        those buildings took place without any advance
                                                                        notification and with absolutely no regard for the
An action against the Commission of the European                        research in progress; the standing closure systems were
Communities was brought before the Court of First                       replaced and it was thus impossible for security
Instance of the European Communities on 10 August                       officers to ensure that the operation was properly
1998 by Enrico Sabbioni, represented by Giuseppe                        monitored.
Marchesini, of the Vicenza Bar, with an address for service
in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Ernest Arendt, Rue
Mathias Hardt.