CELEX: C2003/184/48
Language: en
Date: 2003-08-02 00:00:00
Title: Case C-254/03 P: Appeal brought on 13 June 2003 by Eduardo Vieira SA against the judgment delivered on 3 April 2003 by the Third Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in Case T-126/01 between Eduardo Vieira SA and Commission of the European Communities

2.8.2003               EN                      Official Journal of the European Union                                        C 184/27
Pleas in law and main arguments                                            fisheries sector (EC/Argentina Agreement) so far as
                                                                           concerns the legal basis of the contested decision.
The Portuguese authorities failed to take any measures to                  According to the Court of First Instance, the Commission
ensure that, within various parameters, water intended for                 was competent to take Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 and
human consumption met the requirements laid down in                        in particular on Article 24 thereof as the legal basis for
Annex I to Directive 80/778/EEC and, therefore, the Portuguese             the decision to reduce financial aid. However, the EC/
Republic has failed to fulfil, within the prescribed period, its           Argentina Agreement lays down a specific legal system
obligations under Article 7(6) thereof. The fact that the Portu-           for joint enterprises established within its framework, so
guese Republic has or is about to take steps or measures                   that provisions of general application are not applicable
which, according to the Portuguese authorities, have as their              where the Agreement makes no express reference thereto;
main objective to reach the quality levels for water intended              such reference is made only in relation to the submission
for human consumption laid down by Community law does                      of projects for approval and requests and procedure for
not justify that Member State having failed to fulfil its obliga-          payment.
tions.
                                                                       —   Infringement of the EC/Argentina Agreement so far as
                                                                           concerns the role played by the Joint Committee and the
                                                                           Argentinian authorities. The Court of First Instance
                                                                           considers that the Commission was not required to
                                                                           consult either the Joint Committee or the Argentinian
Appeal brought on 13 June 2003 by Eduardo Vieira SA                        authority before reducing financial aid. Thus it disregards
against the judgment delivered on 3 April 2003 by the                      the institutional structure established by the Agreement.
Third Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities in Case T-126/01 between
Eduardo Vieira SA and Commission of the European
                            Communities                                —   Infringement of the EC/Argentina Agreement so far as
                                                                           concerns application of the procedure provided for by
                         (Case C-254/03 P)                                 Article 44 of Regulation (EEC) No 4028/86, repealed
                                                                           from 1 January 1994 and thus inapplicable in the present
                                                                           case, to the procedure for reducing financial aid. Accord-
                          (2003/C 184/48)                                  ingly, there was no legal basis for the consultation with
                                                                           the Standing Committee for the Fishing Industry.
An appeal against the judgment delivered on 3 April 2003 by
the Third Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities in Case T-126/01 between Eduardo                  —   Infringement of the EC/Argentina Agreement so far as
Vieira SA and Commission of the European Communities was                   concerns application of Regulation (EC) No 3699/93
brought before the Court of Justice of the European Commu-                 when assessing the amount of the reduction of the
nities on 13 June 2003 by Eduardo Vieira S.A., represented by              financial assistance. The Commission ought to have
Ramón García-Gallardo and Mª Dolores Domínguez Pérez,                      applied a reduction based on that regulation but only
with an address for service in Luxembourg.                                 within the framework of the EC/Argentina Agreement and
                                                                           having regard to its scale of assessment. The application
                                                                           of the scale of assessment established in Regulation
The appellant claims that the Court should:
                                                                           No 3699/93 entails an additional sanction on the bene-
                                                                           ficiary.
1.    declare the present appeal admissible;
2.    set aside the judgment delivered on 3 April 2003 by the
      Third Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the              —   Infringement of Community law as regards force majeure.
      European Communities in Case T-126/01 between                        The Court of First Instance disregards the obligation on
      Eduardo Vieira SA and Commission of the European                     the Commission so far as concerns the legal classification
      Communities;                                                         of certain events as force majeure.
3.    order the European Commission to pay the entire costs of
      proceedings before the Court of Justice as well as those
      incurred at first instance.                                      —   Infringement of the EC/Argentina Agreement so far as
                                                                           concerns the need to seek Commission approval before
                                                                           leaving Argentinian fishing waters. The Court of First
                                                                           Instance considers that the appellant was required to
                                                                           inform the Commission of difficulties in carrying out the
Pleas in law and main arguments                                            project and could not leave the Argentinian exclusive
                                                                           economic zone without the prior approval of the
The appellant claims that the Court of First Instance infringed            Commission. Nevertheless, if an ‘international component’
Community law. The appellant relies on six pleas in law:                   is acknowledged to exist, authorisation by the Argentinian
                                                                           authority should suffice.
—     Infringement of the Agreement between the Community
      and the Argentinian Republic on relations in the sea