CELEX: C2002/323/62
Language: en
Date: 2002-12-21 00:00:00
Title: Case T-317/02: Action brought on 16 October 2002 by Fédération des Industries Condimentaires de France and Others against Commission of the European Communities

21.12.2002            EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      C 323/37
Action brought on 10 October 2002 by Svend Klitgaard                    Action brought on 16 October 2002 by Fédération des
  against the Commission of the European Communities                    Industries Condimentaires de France and Others against
                                                                                 Commission of the European Communities
                        (Case T-315/02)
                                                                                                 (Case T-317/02)
                        (2002/C 323/61)
                                                                                                 (2002/C 323/62)
                  (Language of the case: Danish)
                                                                                           (Language of the case: French)
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the              An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
European Communities on 10 October 2002 by Svend                        ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
Klitgaard, of Skørping (Denmark), represented by Søren Koll             European Communities on 16 October 2002 by Fédération
Espensen, advokat.                                                      des Industries Condimentaires de France, established in Paris,
                                                                        the Confédération Générale des Producteurs de lait de brebis
                                                                        et des Industriels du Roquefort, established in Millau (France),
                                                                        the Comité Economique Agricole Régional fruits et légumes
The applicant claims that the Court should:                             de Bretagne, established in Morlaix (France) and the Comité
                                                                        Interprofessionnel des Palmipèdes à foie gras, established in
—     Order the defendant to pay to the applicant an amount             Paris, represented by Michel Jacquot and Olivier Prost, avocats.
      totalling EUR 19 867.40 plus interest from 30 April
      2002 and a collection fee of EUR 8 100 or EUR 592,95,
      together with interest thereon from 30 March 2002 until           The applicant claims that the Court should:
      final payment, at the rate offered by the Danish National
      Bank plus 5 %.
                                                                        —     annul the decision of 9 July 2002 terminating the
                                                                              examination procedures concerning obstacles to trade,
                                                                              within the meaning of Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/
                                                                              94, consisting of trade practices maintained by the United
Pleas in law and main arguments                                               States of America in relation to imports of prepared
                                                                              mustard;
The applicant and defendant entered into a contract in                  —     order the Commission to pay the costs.
December 1997 under which the applicant was to provide
assistance in the auditing of a specified number of projects,
coordination of network activities between those projects and
membership of the steering committee for the PLAN project.
                                                                        Pleas in law and main arguments
According to the applicant, the defendant has paid in full the
fees owing to the applicant but the applicant has not obtained          Since 1999 the applicants have been and continue to be
reimbursement of his travel expenses, which total                       subject to the application by the United States of America of a
EUR 19 867,40.                                                          100 % increase in customs duties as a result of the ‘beef
                                                                        hormones’ case before the World Trade Organisation.
The applicant submits that payment of the amount claimed
was a matter agreed on pursuant to the contract entered into            One of the applicants lodged a complaint on the basis of
by the parties, under which the defendant is obligated to pay           Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 (1), in particular those
documented travel and subsistence expenses. Moreover, by its            established under the auspices of the World Trade Organis-
conduct and the fact that it has honoured all instalments of            ation. The remaining applicants joined the complainant in that
the fees payable, the defendant has indirectly accepted its             complaint.
obligation to pay positive expenditure as requested by the
applicant.
                                                                        Following that complaint, the Commission decided to open
                                                                        an examination procedure. By the contested decision, the
                                                                        Commission decided to terminate that procedure.
 ---pagebreak--- C 323/38                EN                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                     21.12.2002
In support of their application, the applicants allege infringe-             on 22 October 2002 by Monika Esch-Leonhardt, Frankfurt
ment of Article 3(2) of Regulation No 3286/94 (EC). According                (Germany), Tillmann Frommhold, Karben (Germany), and
to the applicants, the Commission misassessed the definition                 Emmanuel Larue, Frankfurt (Germany), represented by B. Kart-
of ‘obstacle to trade’.                                                      haus, C. Roth and T. Raab-Rhein (lawyers), with an address for
                                                                             service in Luxembourg.
The applicants claim, next, that that misassessment necessarily
implies infringement of Article 2(4) of Regulation No 3286/
94 (EC) as regards assessment of the adverse trade effects                   The applicants claims that the Court should:
arising from the United States measures.
                                                                             1.    declare the inclusion of the Director of Personnel’s letter
The applicants take the view, moreover, that the Commission                        of 4 December 2001 in the applicants’ personal files to
infringed, in its examination of the adverse trade effects, the                    be of no legal effect;
obligation to have regard to the provisions, principles or
practice which govern the right of action under relevant
international rules, contained in Article 10(5) of Regulation                2.    in the alternative, declare void the defendant’s refusal to
                                                                                   remove the Director of Personnel’s letter of 4 December
No 3286/94 (EC).
                                                                                   2001 from the applicants’ personal files;
The applicants further claim that the Commission, when                       3.    declare void the defendant’s refusal to number the pages
deciding to terminate the procedure, restricted the concept of                     of the personal files in sequence;
interests of the Community to the interests of the complainant
alone, contrary to Article 10 of Regulation No 3286/94 (EC).
                                                                             4.    order the defendant to pay the applicants damages of
                                                                                   EUR 1 by way of compensation for non-pecuniary loss;
The applicants also allege breach of the obligation to provide
a statement of reasons, both as regards the analysis of the
obstacles to trade and the interests of the Community,                       5.    as an alternative to claims 1 to 3, order the defendant to
infringement of Article 2(4) and Article 11(1) of Regulation                       remove the Director of Personnel’s letter of 4 December
No 3286/94 (EC) and a manifest error of assessment of                              2001 from the personal files;
the facts. Finally, the applicants allege infringement by the
Commission of the rights of the defence and breach of the
duty to exercise due care.                                                   6.    order the defendant to pay the costs of the proceedings.
( 1) Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 of 22 December 1994
     laying down Community procedures in the field of the common
     commercial policy in order to ensure the exercise of the Com-
     munity’s rights under international trade rules.                        Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                             The applicants, employees of the European Central Bank,
                                                                             complain that a document sent to them by the defendant
                                                                             warning them to refrain in the future from circulating infor-
                                                                             mation about the union via the defendant’s internal e-mail
                                                                             system was included in their respective personal files.
Action brought on 22 October 2002 by Monika Esch-
Leonhardt, Tillmann Frommhold and Emmanuel Larue
               against the European Central Bank
                                                                             The applicants regard the warning itself, and in particular the
                          (Case T-320/02)                                    storage thereof, as a breach of their right to determine what
                                                                             information is placed on the file and an infringement of their
                                                                             right to carry out activities connected with the union. In
                          (2002/C 323/63)                                    addition, the measure amounts to discrimination on account
                                                                             of their union activities.
                    (Language of the case: German)
                                                                             The applicants also submit that their rights have been infringed
                                                                             in that the pages of their personal files have not been numbered
An action against the European Central Bank was brought                      in sequence, with the result that it is not possible to check
before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities               which documents are placed on, or removed from, those files.