CELEX: C1996/046/30
Language: en
Date: 1996-02-17 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 27 November 1995 by Telecom Italia SpA against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-215/95)

17 . 2 . 96            EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 46/ 15
     ORDER OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE                                         ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT
                     of 17 November 1995                                     OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
in Case T-330/94 Salt Union Ltd . v. Commission of the                                   of 12 December 1995
                   European Communities ( 1 )                       in Case T-203/95 R, Bernard Connolly v. Commission of
             (Intervention — Rules on Languages)                                      the European Communities
                          ( 96/C 46/28 )                                                       ( 96/C 46/29 )
                                                                                    (Language of the case: French)
                 (Language of the case: English)
                                                                    In Case T-203/95 R: Bernard Connolly, an official of the
                                                                    Commission of the European Communities, resident at
In Case T-330/94 Salt Union Ltd, established in Cheshire            Everberg ( Belgium ), represented by Jacques Sambon and
( United Kingdom ), represented by Jonathan Scott and Craig         Pierre-Paul van Gehuchten, both of the Brussels Bar, with an
Pouncey, Solicitors, with an address for service in                 address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Louis
Luxembourg at the Chambers of Georges Baden, 8                      Schiltz, 2 Rue du Fort Reinsheim, against the Commission
Boulevard Royal , v. Commission of the European                     of the European Communities (Agents : Gianluigi Valsesia
Communities ( Agents : Nicholas Khan and Jean-Paul                  and Julian Currall ) — application for interim measures
Keppenne ) — application, first, for the annulment of the           prohibiting the Commission from communicating to the
decision contained in a letter of 5 August 1994 in which the        press information concerning the disciplinary proceedings
Commission informed the applicant that it had found no              brought against the applicant whilst those proceedings are
ground for proposing any appropriate measures within the            in progress as well as information concerning his career,
meaning of Article 93 ( 1 ) of the EC Treaty with regard to the     personality, opinions or health, and ordering the
Netherlands regional aid scheme 'Subsidieregeling regionale         Commission to take all necessary measures to ensure that no
investeringsprojecten 1991 ' and, secondly, for an order that       such information is made public, and, secondly, ordering the
the Community should indemnify the applicant for the                Commission to pay the applicant a periodic penalty of Bfr
damage it considers it has suffered as a result of that              100 000 for every breach committed as from the date of the
decision, the Court of First Instance (Third Chamber,               interim order — the President of the Court of First Instance
extended composition ), composed of C. P. Briët, President,         has made an order on 12 December 1995 , the operative part
B. Vesterdorf, K. Lenaerts, P. Lindh and A. Potocki, Judges,        of which is as follows ::
H. Jung, Registrar, has made an order on 17 November
 1995 in which it :
                                                                     1 . The Commission is reminded to take all necessary
                                                                         measures to ensure that no information concerning Mr
                                                                         Connolly 's career, personality, opinions or health, likely
 1 . grants Frima BV leave to intervene in support of the                to harm, directly or indirectly, his personal and
     form of order sought by the Commission;                             professional reputation, is disclosed by its staff in
                                                                         contacts with the press or in any other manner.
2 . grants Verein Deutsche Salzindustrie eV leave to
     intervene in support of the form of order sought by Salt       2 . The remainder of the application for interim measures is
                                                                         dismissed.
      Union, in so far as it is based on Article 1 73 of the
      Treaty;
                                                                    3.   Costs are reserved.
 3 . orders a period to be prescribed within which the
      interveners must state in writing the pleas relied on in
     support of the forms of order which they seek;
4 . grants the requests submitted by Frima BV and Verein
      Deutsche Salzindustrie eV to be authorized to use Dutch
                                                                    Action brought on 27 November 1995 by Telecom Italia
      and German, respectively, in the oral procedure;
                                                                     SpA against the Commission of the European
                                                                                               Communities
 5 . reserves the costs .                                                                   ( Case T-2 15/95 )
                                                                                                ( 96/C 46/30 )
 (') OJ No C 380 , 31 . 12 . 1994 .
                                                                                     (Language of the case: Italian)
                                                                     An action against the Commission of the European
                                                                     Communities was brought before the Court of First
 ---pagebreak--- No C 46/ 16           EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                      17 . 2 . 96
Instance of the European Communities on 27 November                  Instance of the European Communities on 7 December
1995 by Telecom Italia SpA, whose registered office is in            1995 by Luigi Ronchi, residing in Luxembourg, represented
Turin, represented by Mario Sanino, Mario Siragusa, and              by Jean-Noel Louis, Thierry Demaseure and Ariane Tornel ,
Antonio Lirosi, of the Rome Bar, and Giulio Cesare Rizza of          of the Brussels Bar, with an address for service in
the Siracusa Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg          Luxembourg at the offices of Fiduciaire Myson Sari, 1 Rue
at the Chambers of Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen .                        Glesener.
The applicant claims that the Court should :
                                                                     The applicant claims that the Court should :
— annul Commission Decision 95/489/EC of 4 October
     1995 concerning the conditions imposed on the second            — annul the decision of the Commission rejecting the
    operator of GSM radiotelephony services in Italy,                     applicant's request for assistance of 30 January 1995 ,
— order the Commission to pay the costs.                             — order the defendant to pay to the applicant the token
                                                                          sum of ECU 1 by way of compensation for the
Pleas in law and main arguments                                           non-material damage suffered as a result of the
                                                                          dereliction of duty committed by it in relation to
In the view of the applicant, the contested decision should be            him,
annulled inasmuch as it infringes the right to a fair hearing of
the applicant, it applies erroneously or wrongly Articles 86
and 90 of the Treaty, it infringes Article 190 of the Treaty         — order the defendant to pay the costs .
and the statement of reasons is manifestly defective with
regard to the operative part of the provision . Moreover, the        Pleas in law and main arguments
corrective measures imposed are unlawful and manifestly
illogical.
                                                                     The applicant states that on 30 January 1 995 he submitted a
In particular, as regards Article 86 of the Treaty, the              request, pursuant to Article 24 of the Staff Regulations of
applicant criticizes the erroneous application of the concept        officials, for the assistance of the Commission in restoring
of 'single economic entity', the illogical definition of the         his reputation and good name in consequence of the
relevant market and the erroneous reference by the                   publication of a book containing certain statements about
 Commission to the alleged indications revealing the                 him which he regards as libellous and defamatory . By note
dominant position of Telecom/Telecom Italia Mobile ( TIM )           of 27 February 1995 the appointing authority informed the
in the context of the analysis of the alleged abusive                applicant that, before deciding on the measures to be
conduct.                                                              adopted, if any, it proposed to carry out an investigation
                                                                     aimed at verifying whether or not the allegations contained
 As regards Articles 86, 90 and 190 of the Treaty, the                in the book were well-founded . On 17 July 1995 , having
 applicant criticizes the erroneous conclusion that there            received no response to his request, the applicant lodged a
 existed both special rights in respect of Telecom/TIM and a          complaint against the implied decision rejecting his request.
 national measure for determining the hypothetical                    That complaint was likewise rejected by an implied
 distortion of competition and the relevant harmful effect on         decision .
 trade between the Member States . If such a national
 measure does exist, the applicant argues that it is not              In contesting that decision, the applicant pleads, first of all ,
 contrary to Article 86 of the Treaty. Finally, Telecom               the complete absence of any statement of reasons . He
 maintains that the abuse alleged by the Commission is of no          maintains, moreover, that the decision was taken in breach
 significance either logically or economically and is in any          of the duty to provide assistance as laid down in Article 24 of
 event unsubstantiated .                                              the Staff Regulations, inasmuch as, first, the institution
                                                                      provided no information enabling the applicant to verify
 Finally, the applicant claims that Article 190 of the Treaty         whether the investigation had actually been carried out and,
 has been infringed inasmuch as the grounds for the decision          second, it took no steps to defend? in public and by name its
 are inconsistent with the corrective measures imposed on             official .
 the Italian Government .
                                                                      As regards the claim for damages, the applicant asserts that
                                                                      the defendant failed to fulfil its duty to provide assistance by
                                                                       omitting to adopt, on its own initiative, such measures as
                                                                      would restore his honour and dignity; that dereliction of
 Action brought on 7 December 1995 by Luigi Ronchi                     duty was aggravated by the rejection of his formal request
   against the Commission of the European Communities                  for the adoption of such measures . He considers, moreover,
                        ( Case T-223/95 )                              that, while his professional reputation has already been
                                                                       compromised by the publication of the book in question, the
                           ( 96/C 46/31 )                              Commission's failure to take the appropriate measures has
                                                                       aggravated the non-material damage which he has
                (Language of the case: French)                         suffered .
  An action against the Commission of the European
  Communities was brought before the Court of First