CELEX: C2002/233/55
Language: en
Date: 2002-09-28 00:00:00
Title: Case T-225/02: Action brought on 29 July 2002 by the Cámara de Comercio e Industria de Zaragoza against the Commission of the European Communities

28.9.2002              EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                        C 233/31
Pleas in law and main arguments                                           Pleas in law and main arguments
The trade mark applied         the word mark ‘ROBOTUNITS’ —
for:                           Application No 1 176 320
                                                                          The action has been brought against the decision by which the
Goods or services con-         goods in Classes 6, 7 and 9                Commission withdrew the aid, initially granted by the Euro-
cerned:                        (including metal profiles, guides          pean Social Fund, for which the undertaking COPY ARAGON
                               for machines and conveyor belts)           S.A. had applied on 25 November 1991 for the purpose of
                                                                          running specialised courses in colour image processing by
Decision         contested     refusal of registration by the             computer systems, financed by the Community initiative
before the Board of            examiner                                   EUROFORM (TRICOIN Project). The decision was essentially
Appeal:                                                                   based on the fact that the project concerned was not transna-
                                                                          tional.
Decision of the Board of       dismissal of the appeal
Appeal:
Grounds of claim:              Infringement of Article 7(1)(c) of         In support of its claims, the applicant submits that:
                               Regulation (EC) No 40/94 (1)
                                                                          —     The Commission made errors of assessment concerning
( 1) Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the                the facts on which it based its decision, in so far as
     Community trade mark (OJ 1994 L 11, p. 1).                                 regards both the description of the Chamber of Com-
                                                                                merce, Zaragoza, as the ultimate recipient of the aid
                                                                                granted and the allegation that the project did not have a
                                                                                sufficiently transnational dimension. It points out in that
                                                                                connection that the Community rules on the conditions
                                                                                and requirements for an transnational dimension in the
                                                                                framework of the programme for 1988 to 1993 were
                                                                                neither sufficiently specific nor sufficiently clear and that
Action brought on 29 July 2002 by the Cámara de                                 consequently it was impossible to ascertain precisely
Comercio e Industria de Zaragoza against the Commission                         which operations were transnational and which were not.
                of the European Communities
                                                                          —     If the international operations required by the Com-
                          (Case T-225/02)
                                                                                mission were not provided for either in the original
                                                                                application or in any subsequent alterations to the project
                         (2002/C 233/55)                                        and the project was approved in that form, there is
                                                                                no reason to impose such a requirement retroactively,
                                                                                inasmuch as to do so would amount to a breach of the
                   (Language of the case: Spanish)
                                                                                principle of legal certainty.
                                                                          —     The period which elapsed between presentation on
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                                28 July 1999 of the UAFSE document containing the
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                                submissions made in response to the defendant’s notifi-
European Communities on 29 July 2002 by the Cámara de
                                                                                cation of 11 June 1999 of its proposal to instigate the
Comercio e Industria, Zaragoza, Spain, represented by Alfredo
                                                                                procedure for withdrawing the aid granted and the
Sánchez-Rubio Garcia, lawyer.                                                   contested decision of 29 December 2000, and the
                                                                                period which elapsed between the date on which the
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                     Commission adopted the Decision and the date of its
                                                                                notification to the Chamber of Commerce, Zaragoza, on
                                                                                16 May 2002 exceed what should and can be regarded as
—     annul Commission Decision C(2000) 2621 of 29 Decem-                       reasonable in accordance with the principle of sound
      ber 2000 ‘relating to the withdrawal of aid which was
                                                                                administration.
      allocated to the European Social Fund (ESF) by the
      Commission on 19.12.1991 No C(91) 2852 via the
      Community initiative “EUROFORM” for Spain (P.O.                     —     Failure to comply with the obligation to state reasons.
      913051ES8) and which the Spanish authorities (UAFSE)
      likewise allocated by way of ESF funds to the Cámara de
      Comercio e Industria (Chamber of Commerce), Zaragoza,               —     The contested decision does not bear any signature
      for the “TRICOIN” project (ref.: EUR-82), for the                         establishing the document’s authenticity.
      implementation of which the company Copy Aragón de
      Zaragoza was responsible’;
—     order the Commission to pay the costs.