CELEX: C2002/118/44
Language: en
Date: 2002-05-18 00:00:00
Title: Case T-53/02: Action brought on 22 February 2002 by Ricosmos B.V. against the Commission of the European Communities

18.5.2002             EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      C 118/27
Action brought on 13 February 2002 by S.A. Global                       —     There is no proof of any payment having been made in
Electronic Finance Management against the Commission                          error by the Commission.
                of the European Communities
                                                                        —     The Commission communicated for the first time its
                         (Case T-29/02)                                       change of position in respect of acceptance of the project
                                                                              costs only six months after the completion of the project,
                                                                              and three months after the Final Review Report. By so
                        (2002/C 118/43)                                       doing, the defendant did not communicate its objections
                                                                              within a reasonable time.
                  (Language of the case: English)
                                                                        —     The Commission has not complied with the general
                                                                              principles of protection of legitimate expectations, of due
                                                                              process and of execution of a contract ‘in good faith’.
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 13 February 2002 by S.A. Global
Electronic Finance Management, represented by Mr Matthias
E. Storme and Ms Ann Gobien of Keuleneer, Storme, Vanneste,
Van Varenbergh, Verhelst, Brussels (Belgium).
The applicant claims that the Court should:                             Action brought on 22 February 2002 by Ricosmos B.V.
                                                                          against the Commission of the European Communities
—     declare the application admissible and well-founded;
                                                                                                 (Case T-53/02)
—     order the Commission to pay to the applicant the
      equivalent in Euro of the sum of 40 693 ECU;
                                                                                                (2002/C 118/44)
—     declare the Commission’s attempt to recover from the
      applicant the sum of 273 516 ECU unfounded and                                       (Language of the case: Dutch)
      therefore order the Commission to issue a ‘credit note’
      for the amount of 273 516 ECU;
—     order the Commission to pay the costs of the proceedings.         An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                        ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                        European Communities on 22 February 2002 by Ricosmos
                                                                        B.V., established at Delfzijl (Netherlands), represented by
Pleas in law and main arguments                                         Martijn Hendrik Fleers, Michel Chatelin and Pierre Metzler,
                                                                        lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg.
The object of the present application, pursuant to an arbi-
tration clause within the meaning of Article 238 [ex                    The applicant claims that the Court should:
Article 181] of the EC Treaty, is an order requiring the
Commission, representing the European Community, to pay
the Applicant the sum of 40 693 ECU, in respect of the                  (1) annul the Commission’s decision C(2001) 3663 final of
execution of a contract concluded under the ESPRIT-Pro-                       16 November 2001 in Case REM 09/00;
gramme, aiming to stimulate the development of financial
infrastructure, systems and transaction mechanisms necessary            (2) order the Commission to pay the costs.
for the successful growth of electronic commerce within the
European Union. The Law of Belgium is the applicable law.
In support of its conclusions, the applicant submits as follows:        Pleas in law and main arguments
—     It executed its contractual tasks correctly, as stated
      repeatedly by the Commission during the project                   The applicant is the grantee of various customs permits
      execution and confirmed by the final Review Report. The           enabling it to organise Community transit. In that context, the
      amount of the account submitted by the applicant to               applicant organised various shipments of cigarettes to the
      the Commission for payment was justified and well                 Czech Republic under the rules governing external Community
      documented. There should be accordingly no grounds on             transit.In the case of certain of those shipments, dating from
      which the Commission may claim repayment of any                   1994, it subsequently became apparent that fraud had been
      amount.                                                           committed by third parties.
 ---pagebreak--- C 118/28               EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                      18.5.2002
In 1997 the applicant submitted to the Netherlands customs             Lastly, the applicant pleads infringement of the principle of
authorities an application for remission of import duties              proportionality. It claims that the duty charged is in any event
pursuant to Article 239 of Regulation No 2913/92 (1), since            disproportionate to any negligence on its part.
the applicant itself had not been involved in the fraud and had,
moreover, taken all possible steps to prevent the fraud.
According to the applicant, it was not to blame, in connection         (1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992
with those shipments, for any fraudulent acts or manifest                  establishing the Community Customs Code (OJ L 302 of
negligence. The Netherlands authorities passed that application            19.10.1992, p. 1).
on to the Commission in accordance with Article 905 of                 (2) Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying
Regulation No 2454/93 (2). By the contested decision, the                  down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation
Commission refused the remission of the customs duties.                    (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code
                                                                           (OJ L 253 of 11.10.1993, p. 1).
                                                                       Action brought on 12 March 2002 by Organización de
The applicant pleads, first, infringement of Article 907 of            Productores de Túnidos Congelados against Commission
Regulation No 2454/93. According to the applicant, the time-                            of the European Communities
limit of nine months for issuing the decision was wrongly
extended three times. The applicant further claims that its
rights of defence have been infringed. It states that it was not                                 (Case T-69/02)
kept informed of the course of the procedure, and in particular
of the questions put by the Commission to the Netherlands
authorities. Furthermore, the applicant was initially denied                                    (2002/C 118/45)
access to the complete file for the purposes of submitting its
observations. However, the Commission calculated the time                                 (Language of the case: Spanish)
which elapsed in that connection as an extension of time. Yet,
according to the applicant, the time-limit for taking a decision
could not be extended whilst the applicant remained unaware
of the questions put and was denied complete access to the
                                                                       An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
file.
                                                                       ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                       European Communities on 12 March 2002 by the Organiza-
                                                                       ción de Productores de Túnidos Congelados, whose registered
                                                                       office is in Bermeo (Vizcaya, Spain), represented by Ramón
                                                                       Garcia-Gallardo Gil-Fournier and Javier Guillém Carrau, law-
                                                                       yers.
                                                                       The applicant claims that the Court should:
The applicant further pleads infringement of the principle of
legal certainty. It argues that, pursuant to Article 907 of            —     declare the present action admissible;
Regulation No 2454/93, a decision in its favour must be
deemed to have been taken after nine months had elapsed,               —     annul the measure which is the subject-matter of the
since it was not aware of any extension of the time-limit                    present action by which the European Commission has
provided for in that article.                                                reduced the quantities in respect of which OPTUC is
                                                                             eligible for compensation, namely, Article 2(2) of and
                                                                             the annex to Regulation Commission Regulation (EC)
                                                                             No 2496/2001 of 19 December 2001 providing for
                                                                             compensation to producer organisations for tuna deliver-
                                                                             ed to the processing industry between 1 January and
                                                                             31 March 2001 (1),
                                                                       —     make any other appropriate order requiring the Com-
The applicant further contests the Commission’s conclusion                   mission to fulfil its obligations under Article 233 EC and,
that it was manifestly negligent. It argues that it did not itself           in particular, order the European Commission to re-
infringe any rules of law and acted in accordance with                       examine the matter;
established usages and international practice. There was no
causal link between the involvement of the applicant and the           —     order the Commission of the European Communities to
fraud which was perpetrated.                                                 pay the costs.