CELEX: C1995/333/37
Language: en
Date: 1995-12-09 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 9 October 1995 by Service pour le Groupement d'Acquisitions (SGA) against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-189/95)

9 . 12 . 95            EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 333/ 19
The applicant claims that the Court should:                               the other four pleas advanced by the applicant ) order
                                                                          the Commission to examine all internal documents
— annul the decision of the Commission of 9 November                      connected with the adoption of the contested decision,
     1994 refusing the applicant full reimbursement of the                in order to determine whether that decision was adopted
     difference between the medical expenses actually                     in accordance with the principle of collegiality and the
     incurred and payments from the Joint Sickness                        Commission's rules of procedure;
     Insurance Scheme, in accordance with Article 24 of
     Annex X to the Staff Regulations,                               3 . order the defendant to pay all of the costs of the
                                                                          proceedings.
— annul, in so far as may be necessary, the decision
     adopted by the Commission on 3 July 1995 in response            Pleas in law and main arguments:
    to the complaint;
                                                                     1 . The Commission has failed, with regard to the aid
— order the defendant to pay in full the difference between               measures approved in the contested decision, to initiate
    the expenses actually incurred and payments from the                  without delay the formal procedure under Article 93 ( 2 )
    Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme, amounting in the                     of the EC Treaty, since the aid provisions of the Law on
    present case to Bfr 253 353 ;                                         the fiscal regime in respect of environmental protection
                                                                          give rise to a number of serious problems which cannot
— declare that the General Provisions implementing the                    be resolved by carrying out the prima facie examination
    first and second paragraphs of Annex X to the Staff                   provided for by Article 93 ( 3 ).
    Regulations are unlawful, and consequently withdraw
    them;                                                            2 . Inadequate and contradictory reasoning.
— order the defendant to pay all the costs .                         3 . Breach of general principles of Community law:
                                                                          deviation from its own published guidelines , in
Pleas in law and main arguments:                                          particular the 'framework rules on aid for
                                                                          environmental protection' ( OJ 1994 C 72 , p. 3 ).
The pleas in law and main arguments are the same as those
relied on in Case T-21 /95 ( ).                                     4 . The Commission has exceeded its powers : approval of
                                                                          an aid measure of unspecified duration on condition
(') OJ No C 87, 8 . 4 . 1995 , p . 15 .
                                                                          that, following a specific date, it is not to be further
                                                                          implemented without first having been renotified to the
                                                                          Commission : approval was thus granted subject to a
                                                                          ' resolutive condition '.
                                                                     5.   It is assumed that the Commission has failed to observe
                                                                          the principle of collegiality: hence the application for
Action brought on 9 October 1995 by NV Waterleiding                       measures of inquiry.
Maatschappij 'Noord-West Brabant' against the
         Commission of the European Communities                      6 . The Commission wrongly refused to review its earlier
                        ( Case T-188/95 )                                 judgment concerning previously notified aid measures
                          ( 95/C 333/36 )                                 which hat not yet been implemented, irrespective of the
                                                                          fact that the new framework rules had meanwhile
                                                                          entered into force .
                (Language of the case: Dutch)
                                                                     (') That decision, addressed to the Netherlands Government,
An action against the Commission of the European                         declares that the aid measures contained in the Law on the fiscal
Communities was brought before the Court of First                        regime in respect of environmental protection, whereby taxes
Instance of the European Communities on 9 October 1995                   are to be introduced in relation to groundwater, waste products,
by NV Waterleiding Maatschappij 'Noord-West Brabant',                    fuels and uranium 235 , are compatible with the common
established pursuant to statute at Oudenbosch                            market .
( Netherlands ), represented by P. H. L. M. Kuypers, of the
Breda Bar, and H. M. Gilliams, of the Brussels Bar, with an
address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of
J.-M. Bauler, 47 Grand-Rue .
                                                                     Action brought on 9 October 1995 by Service pour le
The applicant claims that the Court should :                         Groupement d'Acquisitions ( SGA ) against the Commission
                                                                                       of the European Communities
1 . declare the action admissible and well-founded and
                                                                                               Case T-189/95 )
     consequently annul decision SG(95 ) D/8442 of the
     Commission of 3 July 1995 concerning aid case No                                           ( 95/C 333/37 )
     NN 13/95 ( Netherlands — Law on the fiscal regime in
     respect of environmental protection ) ( [ );                                      (Language of the case: French)
2 . ( only in the event that the Court considers that the            An action against the Commission of the European
     contested decision cannot be annulled on the grounds of         Communities was brought before the Court of First
 ---pagebreak--- No C 333/20            EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                     9 . 12 . 95
Instance of the European Communities on 9 October 19 95              Action brought on 10 October 1995 by Société de
by Service pour le Groupement d'Acquisitions ( SGA ),                Distribution Mécanique et d'Automobiles ( Sodima ) against
established at Istres ( France ), represented by Jean-Claude               the Commission of the European Communities
Fourgoux, of the Paris Bar, with an address for service in                                  ( Case T- 190/95 )
Luxembourg at the Chambers of Pierrot Schiltz, 4 Rue
Beatrix de Bourbon .                                                                          ( 95/C 333/38 )
                                                                                    (Language of the case: French)
The applicant claims that the Court should :
— declare that the Commission has wrongfully failed to               An action against the Commission of the European
     act ,                                                           Communities was brought before the Court of First
                                                                     Instance of the European Communities on 10 October 1995
— annul the implicit decision not to act upon the request            by Societe de Distribution Mecanique et d'Automobiles
     for provisional measures ,                                      ( Sodima ), established at Istres ( France ), represented by
                                                                    Jean-Claude Fourgoux, of the Paris Bar, with an address for
— declare      that  the   Commission     has   incurred  non­       service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Pierrot Schiltz,
     contractual liability and award the applicant the sum of        4 Rue Beatrix de Bourbon .
     ECU 200 000 ,
                                                                     The applicant claims that the Court should :
— order the Commission to pay the costs .
                                                                     — declare that the Commission has wrongfully failed to
Pleas in law and main arguments:                                         act ,
The applicant states that it operates as an intermediary in the      — annul the implicit decision refusing to communicate
distribution of all makes of automobiles, undertaking                    documents to it,
parallel imports as agent for the final consumer, in
accordance with the provisions of Article 3 ( 11 ) of               — annul the implicit decision to deal with matters
Regulation ( EEC ) No 123/85 , as referred to in Regulation              jointly,
( EEC ) No 1475/95 . On 24 June 1994 it lodged with the             — declare       that     the    Commission       has    incurred
Commission a complaint on the basis of Article 85 of the EC              non-contractual liability and order it to pay
Treaty and Regulations ( EEC ) No 17 and ( EEC ) No 123/85 ,             compensation for the damage suffered up to the sum of
criticizing the steps taken by the PSA group in relation to the          ECU 200 000 per year from 14 March 1995 ,
Peugeot and Citroen dealers representing its foreign
subsidiaries to prevent them from agreeing to sell vehicles to      — order the Commission to pay the costs .
French intermediaries . On 24 April 1995 , having received
no satisfactory response from the Commission, the                    Pleas in law and main arguments:
applicant was forced to call upon it to act, in accordance
with the provisions of Article 175 of the Treaty .                   The applicant company, a Peugeot concessionaire, contests
                                                                     the Commission's refusal to act on a complaint lodged by it
The applicant considers that the Commission has failed in            against PSA concerning the infringement, in the drafting of
the present case to comply with the guarantees provided for          its dealership agreement and the use made thereof, of
by the Community legal order in administrative procedures,           Article 85 of the EC Treaty and Regulation ( EEC )
including in particular the obligation incumbent on the              No 123/85 . It further complains, first, of the failure by
institution to carry out a careful and impartial examination         the defendant institution to communicate to it PSA's
of all the relevant aspects of the question submitted for its        observations on the complaint and PSA 's answers to certain
consideration and the right of the party concerned to make           questions posed in the context of the investigation and,
its views known and to be given an adequate statement of             second, of the defendant's intention, which is apparent from
reasons for the decision . It maintains that the Commission
                                                                     the letter of 12 September 1995 , to deal with the Sodima
had no excuse for not dealing with the matter, since it knew         matter jointly with other matters also relating to Peugeot's
that its failure to adopt a definitive position was making it        dealership system.
possible for agreements and practices to be freely adopted
with a view to the partitioning of the market, constituting          As regards the Commission's failure to act, the applicant
infringements which are regarded as particularly serious .           considers that it failed in the present case to carry out a full
The applicant consequently requests the Court to declare             inquiry into the matter in the context of the administrative
that the Commission has wrongly failed to act.                       procedure and to examine carefully, impartially, and with
                                                                     full knowledge of all the relevant elements of the case, the
The applicant further states that the situation has been             factual and legal aspects submitted for its consideration .
aggravated as a result of the Commission 's failure to act, and
that it is experiencing increasing difficulties in obtaining a       As to the implicit refusal to communicate Peugeot's
normal level of supplies . It therefore seeks an order               observations or any of the questions which may have been
requiring the Commission to pay it compensation for the              put to Peugeot, the applicant considers that the principle of
damage which it is suffering as a result of the shortage of          equality of arms, which must apply not only to the specific
supplies of vehicles from the PSA group .                            victims of anti-competitive practices but also to
                                                                     undertakings which may be found to have committed an
                                                                     infringement and to the Commission, does not permit the