CELEX: C2000/135/55
Language: en
Date: 2000-05-13 00:00:00
Title: Case T-75/00: Action brought on 31 March 2000 by Augusto Fichtner against the Commission of the European Communities

13.5.2000             EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                       C 135/31
— order the Community to pay the costs;                                  The applicant claims that the Court should:
— adopt such further measures as might reasonably be found               — annul the decision of ‘the Steering Committee’, as con-
    necessary.                                                               tained in the memorandum of I. Boag of 28 January 2000,
                                                                             to assign the applicant to Brussels, to his DG of origin;
                                                                         — in the alternative, award to the applicant compensation
Pleas in law and main arguments                                              for the non-material damage suffered and provisionally
                                                                             quantify the damage, ex aequo et bono, at 1 euro;
The applicants in this case, who are battery manufacturers               — order the defendant to pay all the costs.
exporting to the USA, claim compensation for losses suffered
by them following the adoption by the USA of certain
commercial retaliation measures affecting their industry. On
                                                                         Pleas in law and main arguments
9 September 1997, the Appeals Body of the World Trade
Organisation ruled that various measures laid down under the
Community scheme for importing bananas were contrary to                  The applicant, assigned to the Commission Delegation in
GATT 1994 and the GATS, and called upon the Community                    Romania, contests the decision to reassign him to headquarters
to bring its measures into line with the obligations under those         in Brussels, as part of the rotation exercise for 2000. He claims
trade agreements. Following that ruling, the USA subjected               that the decision in question is flawed in numerous ways, in
imports of stationary batteries to a duty equivalent to 100 %            that it:
of their value, with effect from 3 March 1999.
                                                                         — is not based on a statement of reasons;
In support of their claims, the applicants argue:                        — was taken in breach of the procedure applicable to
                                                                             decisions on rotation; and
— that the retaliatory measures in question were the direct
    consequence of the Community maintaining in force a                  — infringed his rights to be informed and to be heard
    system of rules which the WTO had already ruled unlawful;                beforehand.
— that in this case there has been a serious breach of a
    number of higher legal rules protecting individuals, such
    as the principle of ‘pacta sunt servanda’, the protection of
    legitimate expectations, legal certainty, the right to prop-
    erty, and the right to pursue an economic activity, and also
    of the principle of sound administration.
                                                                         Action brought on 31 March 2000 by Augusto Fichtner
                                                                           against the Commission of the European Communities
                                                                                                   (Case T-75/00)
                                                                                                  (2000/C 135/55)
Action brought on 28 March 2000 by Steffen Skovmand                                         (Language of the case: Italian)
  against the Commission of the European Communities
                                                                         An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                         (Case T-72/00)                                  ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                         European Communities on 31 March 2000 by Augusto Ficht-
                                                                         ner, represented by Vincenzo Salvatore, of the Pavia Bar.
                        (2000/C 135/54)
                                                                         The applicant claims that the Court should:
                   (Language of the case: French)                        — annul as manifestly unfounded in fact and in law the
                                                                             Commission’s decision of 30 September 1999, removing
                                                                             him from his post without loss of pension rights;
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the               — order the Commission to pay compensation of not less
European Communities on 28 March 2000 by Steffen                             than EUR 50000 for material and non-material damage,
Skovmand, residing in Bucharest, represented by Georges                      the exact amount to be determined by the Court of First
Vandersanden, of the Brussels Bar.                                           Instance;
 ---pagebreak--- C 135/32              EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                 13.5.2000
— order the Commission to re-examine the position of the               — Misuse of powers;
    applicant;
                                                                       — Insufficient and contradictory reasoning in the contested
                                                                           decision.
— order the Commission to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                              Removal from the register of Case T-116/99 (1)
The contested decision was taken on the supposition that the
applicant had carried on a large number of external activities                                (2000/C 135/56)
without prior authorisation. The Commission maintains that
those activities had become the applicant’s main occupation,
to the detriment of his work as a Community official.                                    (Language of the case: Finnish)
                                                                       By order of 18 February 2000 the President of the Court of
In support of his claims, the applicant argues:                        First Instance of the European Communities has ordered the
                                                                       removal from the register of Case T-116/99: Ilmailulaitos v
— Infringement and misapplication of Articles 86 and 87 of             Commission of the European Communities.
    the Staff Regulations of Officials, and also of the principle
    of proportionality;                                                (1) OJ C 226 of 7.8.1999.