CELEX: C1995/351/24
Language: en
Date: 1995-12-30 00:00:00
Title: JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE of 9 November 1995 in Case T-346/94: France-Aviation v. Commission of the European Communities (Repayment of customs duty - Audi alteram partem - Special situation)

No C 351 / 12          EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                   30 . 12 . 95
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE                                 The applicant claims that the Court should :
                     of 9 November 1995
in Case T-346/94 : France-Aviation v. Commission of the
                                                                        ( 1 ) order the defendants to pay to it DM 2 279 859,69
                                                                              together with interest at the annual rate of 8 % from
                  European Communities ( ] )                                  9 August 1990 pro tanto in return for the assignment of
(Repayment of customs duty — Audi alteram partem —                            the balance of its claim against Iraq for the equivalent
                         Special situation)                                   balance due to it;
                           ( 95/C 351 /24 )
                                                                        ( 2 ) order the defendants to pay the costs;
                (Language of the case: French)                          ( 3 ) declare the judgment enforceable, alternatively,
                                                                              provisionally enforceable subject to the provision of a
In     Case  T-346/94 :        France-Aviation ,  established   at            bank guarantee .
Châteaufort ( France ), represented by Jean-Claude Cavaillé ,
of the Lyon Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg              Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
at the Chambers of Guy Arendt, 62 Avenue Guillaume v.
Commission of the European Communities ( Agents :                       The applicant is a German undertaking engaged in the
Richard Wainwright and Jean-Francis Pasquier ) —                        provision of services relating to the implementation of
application for the annulment of Commission Decision                    infrastructure projects . At the time when Regulation ( EEC )
REM 4/94 of 18 July 1994 holding in response to a request               No 2340/90 entered into force , it was carrying out certain
from the French Government that repayment of import                     works in Iraq . That Regulation , which was enacted
duties was not justified in the applicant's case — the Court            following the military occupation of Kuwait by Iraq and in
of First Instance ( First Chamber ), composed of: H.                    accordance with a resolution of the Security Council of the
Kirschner, acting as President, A. Kalogeropoulos and V.                United Nations , prohibited trade with Iraq and Kuwait. The
Tiili , Judges, H. Jung, Registrar, has given a judgment on             applicant claims compensation for the damage suffered by it
9 November 1995 , in which it:                                          as a result of the economic reprisals adopted by the Iraqi
                                                                        authorities against the interests of the Member States of the
                                                                        Community in Iraq . Its capital invested in that country was
 1 . annuls Commission Decision REM 4/94 of 18 July                     blocked and its bank accounts were frozen; the measures
      1994, addressed to the French Republic,                           taken were in the nature of expropriation .
     Directorate-General of Customs and Indirect Taxes ;
                                                                        In the applicant's view, the liability of the Community
2 . dismisses the remainder of the application;                         institutions arises from the fact that they enacted the
                                                                         Regulation in question without providing for measures by
                                                                        way of compensation for the damage which the victims of
 3 . orders the Commission to pay the costs.                             possible economic reprisals on the part of the Iraqi
                                                                         authorities might suffer.
 (') O J No C 351 , 10 . 12 . 1994 .
                                                                         That course of action is inconsistent with the right of
                                                                         ownership, which is a basic right the observance of which is
                                                                         to be ensured by the Community judicature, and which is
                                                                         enshrined as such in the Protocol to the European
                                                                         Convention on Human Rights .
 Action brought on 6 October 1995 by Dorsch Consult
 Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH against the Council of the
        European Union of the European Communities
                         ( Case T-l 84/95 )                              Action brought on 9 October 1995 by R against the
                            ( 95/C 351 /25 )                                     Commission of the European Communities
                                                                                                ( Case T-l 87/95 )
                (Language of the case: German)                                                    ( 95/C 351 /26 )
                                                                                        (Language of the case: French)
 An action against the Council of the European Union and
 the Commission of the European Communities was brought
 before the Court of First Instance of the European                      An action against the Commission of the European
 Communities on 6 October 1995 by Dorsch Consult                          Communities was brought before the Court of First
 Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH , represented by Karl M. Meessen               Instance of the European Communities on 9 October 1995
 of Messrs Norr, Stiefenhofer & Lutz, Brussels, with an                   by R, residing in Lausanne ( Switzerland ), represented by
 address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of                     Georges Vandersanden and Laure Levi , of the Brussels Bar,
 Patrick Kinsch of Messrs Arendt & Medernach , 8— 10 Rue                  with an address for service in Luxembourg at the offices of
 Mathias Hardt .                                                          Fiduciaire Myson Sari , 2 Rue Glesener .