CELEX: C1995/137/74
Language: en
Date: 1995-06-03 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 23 March 1995 by Blue Circle Industries plc against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-88/95)

No C 137/34           EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                      3 . 6 . 95
      determine, or state reasons for, the total amount of the        Action brought on 27 March 1995 by Expeditie- en
      fines imposed, and, in particular, the amount of the fine       Controlebedrijf Codirex BV against the Commission of the
      imposed on the applicant.                                                           European Communities
                                                                                               ( Case T-89/95 )
(') OJ No L 343 , 30 . 12 . 1994 , p . 1 .                                                       ( 95/C 137/75 )
                                                                                      (Language of the case: Dutch)
                                                                      An action against the Commission of the European
Action brought on 23 March 1995 by Blue Circle Industries             Communities was brought before the Court of First
pic against the Commission of the European                            Instance of the European Communities on 27 March 1995
                           Communities                                by Expeditie- en Controlebedrijf Codirex BV, Rotterdam,
                                                                      represented by P. V. F. Bos and N. J. Helder, of the
                        ( Case T-88/95 )
                                                                      Rotterdam Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg
                          ( 95/C 137/74 )                             at the Chambers of M. Loesch, 8 Rue Zithe .
               (Language of the case: English)                        The applicant claims that the Court should :
An action against the Commission of the European                      ( a ) declare the action admissible;
Communities was brought before the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities on 23 March 1995                 ( b ) annul the decision or measure adopted by the
by Blue Circle Industries pic , represented by Mr Jeremy                    Commission on 14 November 1994 in relation to the
Lever QC ., Mr Nicholas Green, Ms Jessica Simor, Ms Laura                   Netherlands ( reference No REM : 15/94 );
Mc Roberts, Ms Sara Vaughan with an address for service in
Luxembourg at the chambers of Elvinger & Hoss , 15 , Cote             (c ) order the Commission to pay the costs .
d'Eich, L-1450 Luxembourg.
                                                                      Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
The applicant claims that the Court should :
— declare the Commission's Decision 94/815/EC (cases
                                                                      Between 19 February 1981 and 23 June 1983 the applicant,
    IV/33.126 and 33.322 — Cement ) void and annul it in              as a customs forwarding agent, prepared declarations
    its entirety,
                                                                      relating to the import of poultry sections . By reason of
                                                                      subsequently discovered fraud on the part of the importer,
                                                                      the Netherlands customs authorities demanded from the
— in the alternative annul those parts of the Decision that
    the Court considers erroneous or unsafe and reduce the
                                                                      applicant payment of the outstanding additional
                                                                      agricultural levies . The applicant thereupon lodged an
    fine imposed on Blue Circle accordingly, and
                                                                      application for reimbursement pursuant to Article 13 of
                                                                      Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 1430/79 of 2 June 1979 ( 1 ).
— order the Commission to pay Blue Circle's costs .                   The Netherlands submitted that application to the
                                                                      Commission, which held, in its contested decision, that the
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                   remission of the import duties was not justified .
The applicant submits that the Commission has failed to               The action, which has been brought under Article 173 of the
establish to the requisite legal standard , that is to a degree of    EC Treaty, is based inter alia on the following grounds:
certainty that goes beyond any reasonable doubt, that the
allegations made against it are well founded .                       — infringement of the Commission's procedural rules, in
                                                                           that the decision was not signed by the Commissioner
Secondly, the applicant maintains that the Decision was                    responsible for customs matters,
adopted on the basis of an incorrect procedure and an
incorrect approach to the evidence. In its submission, the           — infringement of the right to a fair hearing . As the party
Decision should be annulled , because the errors of                        directly entitled to the benefit of remission of
procedure — by their very nature — throw serious doubt on                  agricultural levies, the applicant should have been heard
the validity of the Decision and cannot be rectified at this               in the proceedings,
stage .
                                                                     — infringement of Article 13 of Regulation (EEC )
Subsidiarily, the applicant contests the level of the fine; it             No 1430/79 . The Commission wrongly concluded that
contends on that score that the Commission has erred in its
                                                                           no special situation had arisen within the meaning of
determination of the duration and gravity of the                           that provision. The applicant refers in that regard to the
infringements and in its finding that all of the infringements             following circumstances : discrepancy between the
were intentional and serious .
                                                                           principles underlying the applicable Netherlands rules
                                                                           and the Community rules in the matter, the acceptable
                                                                           nature of the invoice values in relation to the market