CELEX: C1996/064/39
Language: en
Date: 1996-03-02 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 27 December 1995 by TAT European Airlines against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-236/95)

No C 64/20            EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                      2 . 3 . 96
— has rules which inhibit direct access to Community                Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
    medical specialists and inhibit advertising              by
    Community medical specialists to the public.
                                                                    The applicant, a competitor company of Compagnie
                                                                    Nationale Air France in the international air lines market,
At the same time as the complaint the applicant requested
interim measures which the Commission rejected . The                challenges the Commission 's Decision authorizing the
applicant made further requests for interim measures in             second of the three tranches of Air France's capital increase,
several letters to the Commission, with which he provided           approved by the Commission on 27 July 1994, as a form of
                                                                    State aid .
supplementary factual and legal information in support of
his requests. These applications include, inter alia, a request
that the Commission reconsider its first refusal to grant
interim measures in the light of new factual and legal              The 1994 Decision subjects the payment of the second and
information . The Commission rejected the applicant's               third tranches of the capital increase to the fulfilment of 13
further requests for interim measures by letter dated               obligations. The applicant submits that the disputed
16 October 1995 , which constitutes the contested                   Decision has been taken without any consideration of the
decision .                                                          fact that three of the said obligations have not been
                                                                    respected by the French authorities .
The applicant alleges an infringement of Article 190 of the
EC Treaty. Concretely, the contested decision does not              The first obligation is aimed at preventing any transfer of the
contain any statement of reasons for which the part of the          aid to Air Inter by the setting up of a holding company which
applicant's complaint alleging unlawful anti-competitive            would have a majority shareholding in both companies . It is
conduct by the GMC, which prevents direct access by                 pointed out that as part of its strategy the Air France Group,
Community medical specialists to the market in medical              began the procedure which will lead to the merger on
services in the United Kingdom, was rejected in the light of        1 January 1997 of Air Inter with Air France's European
the principles established by the Court of Justice in its           profit centre immediately after the 1994 Decision. In fact,
judgment given on 10 May 1995 in Case C-384/93 Alpine               Air France and Air Inter continued to hold shares in the
Investments, as stated in paragraph 1 of the                        same undertaking and pursued their joint initiatives . In
abovementioned letter .                                             these circumstances Air . France and Air Inter form one
                                                                    economic unit, so that Air Inter must inevitably have
                                                                    benefited from the aid before the adoption of the
                                                                    Decision .
                                                                    Secondly, Air France has ignored the second obligation,
                                                                    aimed at preventing it from applying tariffs below those of
                                                                    its competitors for an equivalent supply on the routes which
Action brought on 27 December 1995 by TAT European                  it operates, by deviating by between 15 % and 74 % relative
Airlines against the Commission of the European                     to other fares on some routes in which Air France takes
                          Communities
                                                                    advantage of a price leadership.
                       ( Case T-236/95 )
                          ( 96/C 64/39
                                                                    The applicant submits that the French authorities have not
                                                                    complied with the obligation aimed at ensuring that the
               (Language of the case: English)                      traffic distribution rules for the Paris airport system should
                                                                    be modified, as soon as possible after the adoption of 1994
                                                                    Decision, in accordance with the Commission's Decision of
An action against the Commission of the European                    27 April 1994 on the opening of the Orly-London link .
Communities was brought before the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities on 27 December
1995 by TAT European Airlines, represented by Antoine               Finally, the French authorities have taken no measure to
Winckler and Romano Subiotto, of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen            ensure that the work required to adapt the two terminals at
& Hamilton, with an address for service in Luxembourg at            Orly carried out by Aeroports de Paris and a possible
the Chambers of Elvinger & Hoss, 15 Cote d'Eich.                    saturation of one or other of those terminals, do not affect
                                                                    competitive conditions to the detriment of the companies
                                                                    operating there . On the contrary, the circumstances and
The applicant claims that the Court should :                        timing of the decisions relating to this question leave no
                                                                    doubt that the adaptation of the Orly terminal was
— annul Commission Decision C 23/94 of 21 June 1995 ,               organized precisely in such a way as to discriminate against
    concerning the payments of the second tranche of aid in         competitors of the Air France Group .
    favour of Air France approved by Commission Decision
    of 27 July 1994,
— order the Commission to pay the costs .