CELEX: C1996/233/24
Language: en
Date: 1996-08-10 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 24 May 1996 by Camar SRL against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-79/96)

10 . 8 . 96            EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 233/ 13
compulsorily 'reassigning' her from her post in OP/DIR,               The applicant claims that the Court should :
External Staff Administration , to post OP/4 , Group A
' Publications '.
                                                                      — declare , in accordance with Article 175 of the EC Treaty,
                                                                          that the Commission has infringed Article 30 of
First, the post she had previously occupied became vacant                 Regulation ( EEC ) No 404/93 and the second
following her departure and, secondly, the new post had                   subparagraph of Article 40 ( 3 ) of the EC Treaty, by
been vacant before the so-called ' reassignment'. She could               failing to take the steps necessary to enable the applicant
not therefore have been transferred with her post, so that the            to overcome the following difficulties :
contested measure was incorrectly described by the
defendant as a reassignment.                                              — on account of the crisis in Somalia , it is impossible to
                                                                               procure sufficient quantities of Somalian bananas to
The applicant points out in particular the manner in which                     meet traditional marketing needs , and
the contested decision prejudices her career prospects
inasmuch as , first, the duties attaching to the post to which            — by virtue of the restrictions imposed by Council
she has been reassigned are clearly beneath her abilities,                     Regulation ( EEC ) No 404/93 , it is impossible to use
qualifications and duties previously performed and ,                           bananas from other sources,
secondly, the reassignment in question appears to be a
disguised disciplinary measure imposed on the applicant on            — declare that the Commission is under a duty to take
account of the allegedly bad relations with her immediate                 adequate measures for the future ,
superior.
                                                                      — order the Commission to pay compensation , pursuant to
The applicant claims in this respect that Articles 4 and 29 of
                                                                          Article 178 and the second paragraph of Article 215 of
the Staff Regulations have been infinged inasmuch as any
                                                                          the EC Treaty, for the damage suffered by the applicant
transfer properly so called must observe the formalities                  as a result of the Commission's failure to act,
provided for in those two provisions which , as stated above ,
was not the case here .
                                                                      — order the Commission to pay the costs incurred by the
Secondly, the applicant complains that the appointing                     applicant in the present proceedings .
authority disregarded Article 7 of the Staff Regulations
inasmuch as the ' reassignment', which is the subject of the
                                                                      Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
dispute, was effected neither in the interest of the service nor
in observance of equivalence between posts . The quality of
the work of the applicant has never been criticized . On the          Camar, the only Community operator which traditionally
contrary, her sense of responsibility and initiative , her            trades in Somalian bananas , complains that the Commission
efficiency and her competence have been acknowledged in               failed to adopt the measures provided for under Article 30 of
her staff reports .                                                   Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 404/93 in order to enable it to
                                                                      overcome the difficulties in obtaining supplies of bananas as
                                                                      a result of the critical situation in Somalia and the
Finally, the applicant claims that the duty to have regard for
her welfare as an official has been breached and that there           restrictions imposed by Regulation ( EEC ) No 404/93 .
has been a misuse of powers .
                                                                      Camar emphasizes that before the common organization of
                                                                      the market in bananas took effect, it was able to offset a
                                                                      shortfall in Somalian bananas with bananas from other ACP
                                                                      countries or from third countries . Thereafter, however, that
                                                                      was no longer possible , because bananas from both ACP
                                                                      states and non-ACP third countries are subject to quotas
Action brought on 24 May 1996 by Camar SRL against the                and, in the latter case, without reference quantities it is
          Commission of the European Communities                      impossible to obtain licences giving access to the quota .
                         ( Case T-79/96
                           ( 96/C 233/24 )                            According to Camar, although the lack of Somalian bananas
                                                                      on account of the war and the subsequent continuing crisis is
                                                                      outside the Commission's control , that institution is
                  (Language of the case: Italian)                     nevertheless accountable for not having taken cognizance of
                                                                      the fact that Community supplies were depleted by the
An action against the Commission of the European                      60 000 tonnes designated in the Annex to Regulation ( EEC )
 Communities was brought before the Court of First                    No 404/93 as traditional quantities , which the Council took
 Instance of the European Communities on 24 May 1996 by               into account when fixing the tariff quota for third-country
 Camar SRL, a company established in Florence ( Italy ),              and non-traditional ACP bananas, and for not having
 represented by Wilma Viscardini Donà , and assisted by Dr            adopted appropriate measures to compensate for that
                                                                      shortfall .
 Mariano Paolin and Dr . Simonetta Donà , all of the Padua
 Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the
 Chambers of Ernest Arendt, 8— 10 Rue Mathias Hardt,                  According to Camar, it is clear from the various recitals in
 BP 39 .                                                              the preambles to the regulations adopted by the
 ---pagebreak---  No C 233/ 14           EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                      10 . 8 . 96
 Commission in order to combat the difficulties caused by               she carried out in Portugal , as an employee in the private
the tropical storms 'Debbie', ' Iris ', 'Luis ' and 'Marilyn' that      sector, various duties as an 'empregada ' and 'escriturâria ',
adaptation of the tariff quota should have enabled, and                 involving work as a secretary and/or shorthand typist.
 must enable, the Community market to be adequately
 supplied and compensation to be paid to operators who                  The applicant maintains that there has been a breach of the
have suffered damage through being unable to supply the                 notice of competition and a manifest error of assessment.
 Community market with bananas from the regions or                      The special conditions for admission to the competition in
countries affected by the disaster, and that analogous                  question included point ( d ), which required an in-depth
measures were previously taken by the national authorities              knowledge of the French language . In addition, point ( d ) of
 before the common organization of the market took effect.              those special conditions required candidates to show that, at
There was, and therefore still is, an obligation to take the            the date of publication of the notice of competition, they had
same action in the context of that organization . These                 two years ' professional experience as a secretary and/or
arguments are also valid in the case of the insufficient                shorthand typist. The conditions laid down by the notice of
availability of Somalian bananas , since the fact that this was         competition do not state that the professional experience
caused by a war rather than a cyclone is of little                      required has to have been obtained in French . According to
relevance .                                                             the applicant, however, the express rejection clearly
                                                                        establishes that, having regard to the nature of the
On that basis, Camar views the Commission's failure to                  competition, only activities carried on within the
adopt measures as a breach of the principles underlying the             Commission could be regarded as valid experience for the
common organization of the market in bananas, namely                    purposes of the competition .
that all economic operators should be protected, that
Community rules should be adapted in the face of                        Second, the selection board committed a manifest error of
unforeseen or special difficulties, and that there may be no            assessment in considering that the terms 'empregada ' and
discrimination .
                                                                        'escrituraria ' do not necessarily entail work as a secretary or
                                                                        shorthand typist .
Action brought on 24 May 1996 by Ana Maria Fernandes
 Leite Mateus against the Council of the European Union
                          ( Case T-80/96 )                              Action brought on 24 May 1996 by Christos Apostolidis
                            ( 96/C 233 /25 )                            and 64 others against the Commission of the European
                                                                                                   Communities
                 (Language of tbe case: French)                                                 ( Case T-81/96 )
                                                                                                  ( 96/C 233/26 )
An action against the Council of the European Union was
brought before the Court of First Instance of the European                              (Language of the case: French)
Communities on 24 May 1 996 by Ana Maria Fernandes
Leite Mateus, residing at Zaventem ( Belgium ), represented
by Jean-Noël Louis, Thierry Demaseure and Ariane Tornel ,              An action against the Commission of the European
of the Brussels Bar, with an address for service in                     Communities was brought before the Court of First
Luxembourg at the offices of Fiduciaire Myson Sàrl , 1 Rue             Instance of the European Communities on 24 May 1996 by
Glesener .                                                              Christos Apostolidis and 64 others, all employed in the
                                                                       European Institute for Transuranic Elements ( Karlsruhe ),
                                                                       represented by Jean-Noël Louis, Thierry Demaseure and
The applicant claims that the Court should :                           Ariane Tornel, of the Brussels Bar, with an address for
                                                                       service in Luxembourg at the offices of Fiduciaire Myson
— annul the decision of the selection board in competition             Sàrl , 1 Rue Glesener.
    Conseil/C/360 of 3 October 1995 not to admit her to the
    competition,
                                                                       The applicants claim that the Court should :
— order the defendant to pay the costs .
                                                                       — declare that the Commission has acted wrongfully by
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                         failing to adopt the measures required in order to comply
                                                                            with the judgment of the Court of First Instance ( Fourth
The applicant, an official of the Commission, contests the                  Chamber ) of 27 October 1994 in Case T-64/92 ,
decision of the selection board not to admit her to the tests in
competition Conseil/C/360 for the constitution of a reserve            — annul        the   Commission's      decision   rejecting     the
for future recruitment of French-language secretaries, on the               applicants ' request for the drawing-up of their pay slips
ground that she had failed to show that she had two years '                 for January 1992 and for the payment to each applicant
professional experience as a secretary and/or shorthand                     of the sum of Bfrs 50 000 by way of compensation for
typist . She states in that regard that between 1973 and 1979               the non-material damage suffered,