CELEX: C1997/074/51
Language: en
Date: 1997-03-08 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 16 January 1997 by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-8/97)

8 . 3 . 97              EN |                 Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 74/25
— order the Commission, pursuant to Article 178 and                     designed to prevent erosion of rights as between
     the second paragraph of Article 215 of the EC Treaty,              Categories A and B.
     to make good any damage caused to the applicants by
     the wrongful adoption of Regulation ( EC ) No 203 5/96,
                                                                        The role of the Member States in collecting and
                                                                        transmitting information to the Commission cannot
                                                                        prevent the latter from checking that such information is
— order the Commission to pay the costs incurred by the                 accurate .
      applicants.
                                                                        For the purpose of calculating the licence rights for 1997,
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                        most of the quantities handled by the various categories of
                                                                        operators could be accurately calculated simply by
                                                                        analysing licences issued and used during 1993 , 1994 and
                                                                        1995 . Furthermore, in adopting a provisional reduction
The applicants are members of the Dole group of                         coefficient based on such incorrect figures, the
companies, a group engaged in the worldwide business of                 Commission has acted in breach of the principle of non­
producing, processing, distributing and marketing quality               discrimination laid down in Article 40 ( 3 ) of the EC
branded fruit products, primarily fresh fruit and                       Treaty.
vegetables and packaged fruits and nuts . The applicants
are registered as Category A operators, as defined by
Article 2 ( a ) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1442/93
of 1 0 June 1993 laying down detailed rules for the application
of the arrangements for importing bananas into the
Community ( OJNoL 142, 12 . 6 . 1993 , p. 6 ).
                                                                        Action brought on 16 January 1997 by Union Carbide
                                                                        Corporation (UCC ) against the Commission of the
                                                                                           European Communities
The application concerns the administration by the
Commission of the rules governing the allocation of                                              (Case T-8/97 )
licences for the import of third-country and non­                                                 ( 97/C 74/51 )
traditional ACP bananas into the Community under the
tariff quota established by Article 18 ( 1 ) of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 of 13 February 1993 on the                                  (Language of the case: English)
common organization of the market in bananas (OJ No
L 47, 25 . 2 . 1993 , p. 1 ). It arises out of the decision of the
Commission to reduce the quantity of licences allocated to              An action against the Commission of the European
the applicants for the year 1997 through the application                 Communities was brought before the Court of First
of a provisional reduction coefficient based on incorrect                Instance of the European Communities on 16 January
reference quantities as set out in Commission Regulation                 1997 by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC ), represented
(EC ) No 2035/96 of 20 October 1996 fixing the single                    by Brian Hartnett, with an adress for service in
reduction      coefficient   for    the  determination    of   the       Luxembourg at the Chambers of Arendt & Medernach,
provisional quantity of bananas to be allocated to each                  Postal Box 39 .
operator in Categories A and B from the tariff quota for
1997 ( OJ No L 272 , 25 . 10 . 1996, p. 6 ).
                                                                        The applicant claims that the Court should:
In support of their claims, the applicants submit that the              — annul, in whole or in part, Commission Decision C/96
Commission determined the reference quantity on the                          1035 final — Shell/Montecatini, and
basis of figures which were known to be inaccurate .
According to them, these inaccuracies are not confined to
the figures themselves. Simple mistakes in mathematics                   — order the Commission to pay the costs, disbursements
and reporting have also been made . They consider, in this                   and fees of the applicant pursuant to Article 87 of the
regard, that even if the adoption of a provisional                           Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance of
 reduction coefficient might appear to be a practical                        the European Communities .
response to the difficult problem of monitoring the
 market, the difference between the reference quantities
                                                                         Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
 claimed and the actual licences issued are used during the
 reference period, which amounts to an error of 27,8 % ,
 can no longer be justified on the basis of existing                     The pleas in law and main arguments are the same as
 difficulties resulting from the initial operation of the                those raised in Case T-153/96 (Union Carbide Corporation
 common organization of the market. The applicants stress                v. the Commission of the European Communities, OJ No
 that the abovementioned error gives rise to gradual                     C 354, 23 . 11 . 1996 , p. 33 ).
 erosion of their import rights and will result in their losing
 all rights to operate in the banana market, contrary to
 Article 19 (2 ) of Regulation ( EEC ) No 404/93 , which is