CELEX: C2002/202/47
Language: en
Date: 2002-08-24 00:00:00
Title: Order of the President of the Court of First Instance of 25 June 2002 in Case T-34/02 R: B v Commission of the European Communities (Interlocutory proceedings — State aid — Aid for construction and conversion of vessels granted as development assistance — Recovery — Legitimate expectations — Prima facie — Urgency)

24.8.2002               EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                         C 202/29
ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST                                The applicant claims that the Court should:
                             INSTANCE
                                                                            —     annul the Commission’s Decision contained in its letter
                           of 25 June 2002                                        of 7 March 2002 refusing access to the documents
                                                                                  mentioned in the applicant’s confirmatory request dated
in Case T-34/02 R: B v Commission of the European                                 3 December 2001;
                            Communities
                                                                            —     order the Commission to pay the costs.
(Interlocutory proceedings — State aid — Aid for construc-
tion and conversion of vessels granted as development
assistance — Recovery — Legitimate expectations — Prima
                          facie — Urgency)
                           (2002/C 202/47)                                  Pleas in law and main arguments
                     (Language of the case: French)
                                                                            The applicant in the present case is the same as in case T-68/
                                                                            02, Masdar (U.K.) -v- Commission, and its object is the
                                                                            Decision of the Commission expressly rejecting the applicant’s
In Case T-34/02 R: B, residing in Versailles (France), and                  request for access to the two audit reports mentioned in the
255 others, represented by P. Kirch and N. Chahid-Nouraï,                   notice to the Official Journal of the European Communities
lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg, against                 relating to the above mentioned case (not yet published).
Commission of the European Communities (Agent: G. Rozet)
— application for suspension of operation of Commission
Decision 2001/882/EC of 25 July 2001 on the State aid
implemented by France in the form of development assistance                 The applicant submits that the Commission has committed an
for the cruise vessel ‘Le Levant’, built by Alstom Leroux Naval             infringement of Article 253 EC in that the contested Decision
for operation in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (OJ 2001 L 327,                   failed to give adequate reasons for relying on the mandatory
p. 37) — the President of the Court of First Instance made an               exclusion in the first and second indents of Article 4(2) of
order on 25 June 2002, the operative part of which is as                    Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001 (1).
follows:
1.    The application for interim relief is dismissed.
                                                                            The Commission has, in the applicant’s view, made a manifest
2.    Costs are reserved.                                                   error of assessment in the application of Article 4(2) of this
                                                                            Regulation, in that the contested Decision found that the grant
                                                                            of the applicant’s request would undermine the protection of
                                                                            the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits, as well
                                                                            as the protection of the commercial interest of a third
                                                                            undertaking.
Action brought on 17 May 2002 by Masdar (U.K.) Ltd                          The applicant contends that the Commission has also made a
  against the Commission of the European Communities                        manifest error of assessment in the application of Article 4(2)
                                                                            of the above mentioned Regulation, and has infringed the
                                                                            general principles of law, in so far as the contested Decision
                           (Case T-159/02)                                  found that there was no overriding public interest in disclosure
                                                                            of the audit reports to the applicant.
                           (2002/C 202/48)
                    (Language of the case: English)                         (1) Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and
                                                                                the Council of 30 May 2001, regarding public access to European
                                                                                Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJEC L 145, of
                                                                                31.5.2001, p. 43).
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 17 May 2002 by Masdar (U.K.)
Ltd, represented by Philip Bentley QC and Patrick Green,
Barrister.