CELEX: C1999/086/33
Language: en
Date: 1999-03-27 00:00:00
Title: JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE of 21 January 1999 in Joined Cases T-185/96, T-189/96 and T-190/96: Riviera Auto Service Établissements Dalmasso SA and Others v. Commission of the European Communities (Competition - Article 85 of the EC Treaty - Standard-form exclusive distributorship agreements for motor vehicles - Category exemption - Rejection of complaints lodged by former dealers - Error of law - Manifestly erroneous assessment - Action for annulment - Action for damages)

C 86/16               EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                                  27.3.1999
  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE                            JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
                     of 28 January 1999                                                 of 21 January 1999
in Case T-14/96: Bretagne Angleterre Irlande (BAI) v.              in Joined Cases T-185/96, T-189/96 and T-190/96:
        Commission of the European Communities (1)                 Riviera Auto Service EÂtablissements Dalmasso SA and
(State aid Ð Action for annulment Ð Decision                         Others v. Commission of the European Communities (1)
terminating an examination procedure initiated under
Article 93(2) of the EC Treaty Ð Definition of State aid           (Competition Ð Article 85 of the EC Treaty Ð
    within the meaning of Article 92(1) of the EC Treaty)          Standard-form exclusive distributorship agreements for
                                                                   motor vehicles Ð Category exemption Ð Rejection of
                        (1999/C 86/32)                             complaints lodged by former dealers Ð Error of law Ð
                                                                   Manifestly erroneous assessment Ð Action for annulment
                                                                                      Ð Action for damages)
                (Language of the case: French)
                                                                                          (1999/C 86/33)
In Case T-14/96: Bretagne Angleterre Irlande (BAI),
established at Roscoff (France), represented by                                   (Language of the case: French)
Jean-Michel Payre, of the Paris Bar, with an address for
service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Aloyse May,
31 Grand-Rue, v. Commission of the European
Communities (Agents: GeÂrard Rozet and Anders Christian
Jessen), supported by Kingdom of Spain (Agents: in the             In Joined Cases T-185/96, T-189/96 and T-190/96: Riviera
written procedure, Luis PeÂrez de Ayala Becerril and, in the       Auto Service EÂtablissements Dalmasso SA, established in
oral procedure, Santiago Ortíz Vaamonde) and Ferries               Nice (France), represented by Christian Bourgeon, of the
Golfo de Vizcaya SA, established at Bilbao (Spain),                Paris Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg at
represented, in the written procedure, by Julian Ellison           the Office of FrancËois Brouxel, 6 Rue Zithe, Garage des
and, in the oral procedure, by Mr Ellison and Mark                 Quatre ValleÂes SA, established in Albertville (France),
Clough, Solicitors, with an address for service in                 Pierre Joseph Tosi, residing in Albertville, Palma SA (CIA
Luxembourg at the Chambers of Messrs Bonn and                      Ð Groupe Palma), established in Salon-de-Provence
Schmidt, 61 Avenue Guillaume Ð application for                     (France), Christophe and GeÂrard Palma, residing in
annulment of the decision of the Commission of 7 June              Salon-de-Provence, represented by Jean-Louis and GiseÁle
1995 terminating the examination procedure initiated               Portolano, of the Aix-en-Provence Bar (France), with an
under Article 93(2) of the EC Treaty (aid in favour of             address for service in Luxembourg at the Office of Nathan
Ferries Golfo de Vizcaya SA), notified to the Spanish              Roy, 18 Rue des Glacis, against Commission of the
Government on 11 Juli 1995 and published in the Official           European Communities (Agents: Giuliano Marenco, Guy
Journal of the European Communities (OJ C 321,                     Charrier and Loic Guerin), supported by Groupe
1.12.1995, p. 4) Ð the Court of First Instance (First              Volkswagen France SA, established in Villers-Cotterets
Chamber, Extended Composition), composed of: B.                    (France), represented by Joseph Vogel, of the Paris Bar,
Vesterdorf, President, and C. W. Bellamy, R. M. Moura              with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Office of
Ramos, J. Pirrung and P. Mengozzi, Judges; B. Pastor,              Arendt et Medernach, 8Ð10 Rue Mathias Hardt Ð
Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a            application, first, for annulment of decisions to reject
judgment on 28 January 1999, in which it:                          complaints alleging infringements of Article 85(1) of the
                                                                   EC Treaty (Cases T-185/96, T-189/96 and T-190/96) and,
                                                                   secondly, for damages for loss allegedly suffered as a result
                                                                   of those decisions (Cases T-189/96 and T-190/96) Ð the
1. Annuls the decision of the Commission of 7 June 1995            Court of First Instance (Third Chamber), composed of:
     terminating the examination procedure initiated under         Tiili, President, A. Potocki and J. D. Cooke, Judges; B.
     Article 93(2) of the EC Treaty (aid in favour of Ferries      Pastor, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given
     Golfo de Vizcaya SA), notified to the Spanish                 a judgment on 21 January 1999, in which it:
     Government on 11 July 1995 and published in the
     Official Journal of the European Communities.
                                                                   1. Dismisses the application in Case T-185/96.
2. Orders the Commission to pay the costs.
3. Orders the Kingdom of Spain and Ferries Golfo de                2. Dismisses as inadmissible the second head of claim in
     Vizcaya SA to bear their own costs.                                Cases T-189/96 and T-190/96.
(1) OJ C 77, 16.3.1996.
                                                                   3. Dismisses the remaining heads of claim in Cases
                                                                        T-189/96 and T-190/96.
 ---pagebreak--- 27.3.1999             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                  C 86/17
4. Orders the parties, including the intervener, to bear               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
     their own costs.                                                                     of 28 January 1999
                                                                      in Case T-264/97: D v. Council of the European Union (1)
(1) OJ C 54, 22.2.1997.
                                                                     (Officials Ð Refusal to grant the applicant the household
                                                                                  allowance in respect of his partner)
                                                                                             (1999/C 86/35)
                                                                                     (Language of the case: French)
  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
                     of 11 February 1999
                                                                     In Case T-264/97: D, an official of the Council of the
in Case T-200/97: Carmen JimeÂnez v. Office for                      European Union, residing in Brussels, represented by
Harmonisation in the Intenal Market (trade marks and                 Jean-NoeÈl Louis, Thierry Demaseure and FrancËoise
                     designs) (OHIM) (1)                             Parmentier, of the Brussels Bar, with an address for service
                                                                     in Luxembourg at the Offices of Fiduciaire Myson SARL,
(Officials Ð Competitions Ð Inclusion on the list of                 30 Rue de Cessange, supported by the Kingdom of
suitable candidates Ð Procedural irregularity Ð Principle            Sweden (Agent: Lotti Nordling), v. Council of the
   of non-discrimination Ð Manifest error of assessment)             European Union (Agents: TheÂreÁse Blanchet and Eva
                        (1999/C 86/34)                               Karlsson) Ð application for annulment of the Council's
                                                                     decision refusing to grant the applicant the household
                                                                     allowance in respect of his partner Ð the Court of First
                (Language of the case: French)                       Instance (Second Chamber), composed of: A. Potocki,
                                                                     President, and C. W. Bellamy and A. W. H. Meij, Judges;
                                                                     B. Pastor, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has
In Case T-200/97: Carmen JimeÂnez, an official of the                given a judgment on 28 January 1999, in which it:
Commission of the European Communities, residing at
Alicante (Spain), represented by Georges Vandersanden, of
                                                                     1. Dismisses the action.
the Brussels Bar, with an address for service in
Luxembourg at the Offices of Fiduciaire Myson SARL, 30
Rue de Cessange, v. Office for Harmonisation in the                  2. Orders the parties, including the intervener, to bear
Internal Market (trade marks and designs) (OHIM)                         their own costs.
(Agents: Fernando López de Rego and Antonio Grilli) Ð
application for annulment of the decision of the selection
board of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal                (1) OJ C 357, 22.11.1997.
Market (trade marks and designs) of 30 October 1996 not
to include the applicant's name on the list drawn up in the
context of the Competition for the drawing-up of a list of
suitable candidates of either sex to fill category C posts as
members of the temporary staff (reference AT/C)' Ð the
Court of First Instance (Third Chamber), composed of: M.
                                                                       JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
Jaeger, President, and K. Lenaerts and J. Azizi, Judges; A.
Mair, Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a                                       of 10 February 1999
judgment on 11 February 1999, in which it:
                                                                     in Case T-35/98: AndreÂ Hecq and Syndicat des Fonction-
                                                                     naires Internationaux et EuropeÂens (SFIE) v. Commission
                                                                                   of the European Communities (1)
1. Annuls the decision of the selection board of the
     Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market                 (Officials Ð Bureau of the local Staff Committee Ð
     (trade marks and designs) of 30 October 1996 not to                Elections Ð Duties of the institution Ð Admissibility)
     include the applicant's name on the list drawn up in
     the context of the Compettion for the drawing-up of                                    (1999/C 86/36)
     a list of suitable candidates of either sex to fill
     category C posts as members of the temporary staff                              (Language of the case: French)
     (reference AT/C)'.
                                                                     In Case T-35/98: AndreÂ Hecq, an official of the
2. Orders the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal               Commission of the European Communities, residing in
     Market (trade marks and designs) (OHIM) to pay the              Brussels, and Syndicat des Fonctionnaires Internationaux
     costs.                                                          et EuropeÂens (SFIE), established in Brussels, represented
                                                                     by Lucas Vogel, of the Brussels Bar, with an address for
(1) OJ C 7, 10.1.1998.                                               service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Christian
                                                                     Kremer, 8Ð10 Rue Mathias Hardt, v. Commission of the
                                                                     European Communities (Agents: Gianluigi Valsesia and
                                                                     Julian Currall) Ð application for annulment of the