CELEX: C2006/249/28
Language: en
Date: 2006-10-14 00:00:00
Title: Case T-209/06: Action brought on 10 August 2006 — European Association of Im- and Exporters of Birds and live Animals and Others v Commission of the European Communities

14.10.2006   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 249/11
            
         Action brought on 10 August 2006 — European Association of Im- and Exporters of Birds and live Animals and Others v Commission of the European Communities
   (Case T-209/06)
   (2006/C 249/28)
   Language of the case: Dutch
   Parties
   
      Applicants: European Association of Im- and Exporters of Birds and live Animals, Vereniging van Im- en Exporteurs van Vogels en Hobbydieren, Willem Plomp, trading as Plomps Vogelhandel and Marinus Borgstein (represented by: J. Wouters, lawyer)
   
      Defendant: Commission of the European Communities
   Form of order sought
   
               —
            
            
               Annul Commission Decision 2006/522/EC of 25 July 2006;
            
         
               —
            
            
               order the Commission to pay the costs.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   The applicants are (i) associations which promote the interests of importers and exporters of birds and animals and (ii) importers and exporters of, inter alia, birds. They contest Commission Decision 2006/522/EC (1).
   The applicants contend that the contested decision is unnecessary, as the existing quarantine rules offer adequate protection.
   They also submit that the decision is in conflict with the precautionary principle because the Commission has not based it on the most complete possible scientific evaluation.
   A complete ban on imports is also disproportionate in light of the factual background to the decision, namely the infection of birds from Taiwan with avian influenza.
   The applicants also argue that the Commission has misused its powers and that the real reason for the extension of the protective measures is the Commission's wish to await the outcome of the report from the Animal Health and Welfare panel of the European Food Safety Authority.
   The measures are also discriminatory inasmuch as poultry is excluded from their scope.
   
      (1)  2006/522/EC: Commission Decision of 25 July 2006 amending Decisions 2005/759/EC and 2005/760/EC as regards certain protection measures in relation to highly pathogenic avian influenza and movements of certain live birds into the Community (notified under document number C(2006) 3303) (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ 2006 L 205, p. 28).