CELEX: C2003/146/21
Language: en
Date: 2003-06-21 00:00:00
Title: Order of the Court (First Chamber) of 6 March 2003 in Case C-449/01 Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Court of Appeal (England and Wales) (Civil Division): Abbey Life Assurance Co. Ltd v Kok theam Yeap (Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure — Directive 86/653/EEC — Coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents — Applicability to agents in the insurance and financial services fields)

21.6.2003                EN                            Official Journal of the European Union                                            C 146/13
                     ORDER OF THE COURT                                        Appeal brought on 4 February 2003 by Rica Foods (Free
                                                                               Zone) NV against the judgment delivered on 14 Novem-
                                                                               ber 2002 by the Court of First Instance (Third Chamber)
                                                                               in Joined Cases T-332/00 and T-350/00 Rica Foods (Free
                            (First Chamber)                                    Zone) NV, supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands
                                                                               and Free Trade Foods NV, v Commission of the European
                                                                                   Communities, supported by the Kingdom of Spain
                            of 6 March 2003
                                                                                                        (Case C-40/03 P)
in Case C-449/01 Reference for a preliminary ruling by
the Court of Appeal (England and Wales) (Civil Division):
      Abbey Life Assurance Co. Ltd v Kok theam Yeap ( 1)                                                 (2003/C 146/22)
(Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure — Directive 86/
653/EEC — Coordination of the laws of the Member States
relating to self-employed commercial agents — Applicability                    An appeal has been brought before the Court of Justice of the
     to agents in the insurance and financial services fields)                 European Communities on 4 February 2003 by Rica Foods
                                                                               (Free Zone) NV, represented by G. van der Wal, advocaat
                                                                               before the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden, against the judgment
                                                                               delivered on 14 November 2002 by the Court of First Instance
                            (2003/C 146/21)
                                                                               (Third Chamber) in Joined Cases T-332/00 and T-350/00 Rica
                                                                               Foods (Free Zone) NV, supported by the Kingdom of the
                                                                               Netherlands and Free Trade Foods NV, v Commission of the
                    (Language of the case: English)                            European Communities, supported by the Kingdom of Spain.
                                                                               The appellant claims that the Court should:
In Case C-449/01: Reference to the Court under Article 234                     1.   declare admissible the appeal lodged by the appellant
EC by the Court of Appeal (England and Wales) (Civil Division)                      against the judgment delivered on 14 November 2002 by
(United Kingdom) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings                        the Court of First Instance of the European Communities
pending before that court between Abbey Life Assurance Co.                          in Joined Cases T-332/00 and T-350/00;
Ltd and Kok Theam Yeap, on the interpretation of Council
Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordi-
nation of the laws of the Member States relating to self-                      2.   set aside the judgment delivered on 14 November 2002
employed commercial agents (OJ 1986 L 382, p. 17), the                              by the Court of First Instance of the European Communi-
Court (First Chamber), composed of: M. Wathelet, President of                       ties in Joined Cases T-332/00 and T-350/00 and, ruling
the Chamber, P. Jann (Rapporteur) and A. Rosas, Judges;                             afresh pursuant to the application at first instance lodged
C. Stix-Hackl, Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has made                      by the present appellant on 27 October 2000:
an order on 6 March 2003, the operative part of which is as
follows:
                                                                                    —     annul Regulation (EC) No 2081/2000; ( 1)
Council Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the
                                                                                    —     declare that the Community is liable for the damage
coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-                           suffered by the appellant by reason of the fact that
employed commercial agents must be interpreted as meaning that
                                                                                          imports of the products referred to in Regulation
self-employed agents appointed for the purpose of soliciting appli-
                                                                                          (EC) No 2081/2000 have, since 1 October 2000,
cations for policies for life assurance, annuities or savings do not fall                 been prevented or restricted as a result of that
within its scope.
                                                                                          regulation, and order the parties to reach agreement
                                                                                          on the extent of the damage suffered by the appel-
                                                                                          lant, and, if no agreement is reached on that matter,
                                                                                          order that the procedure be continued within a
( 1) OJ C 84 of 6.4.2002.                                                                 period to be determined by the Court of Justice for
                                                                                          the purpose of determining the extent of the damage,
                                                                                          or at any rate order the Community to pay compen-
                                                                                          sation for the provisionally estimated damage and
                                                                                          for that still to be assessed; in the further alternative,