CELEX: C1998/113/48
Language: en
Date: 1998-04-11 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 2 March 1998 by the Foreign Trade Association (FTA), Hypermarché Auchan SA, Karstadt Aktiengesellschaft, Kaufhof Warenhaus AG, La Blanche Porte, Otto Versand GmbH & Co., Quelle Schickedanz AG & Co. and Textilimportörerna against the Council of the European Union (Case T-37/98)

C 113/20             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                   11.4.98
    Committee in Brussels, inter alia, by calling a new             Action brought on 2 March 1998 by the Foreign Trade
    constituent meeting of that committee,                          Association (FTA), HypermarcheÂ Auchan SA, Karstadt
                                                                    Aktiengesellschaft, Kaufhof Warenhaus AG, La Blanche
                                                                    Porte, Otto Versand GmbH & Co., Quelle Schickedanz
Ð order the defendant to pay the costs.                             AG & Co. and Textilimportörerna against the Council of
                                                                                         the European Union
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                                         (Case T-37/98)
                                                                                             (98/C 113/48)
The applicant, both in his own name and that of the
UIECS, challenges the refusal of the Administration to                              (Language of the case: English)
intervene in the membership of the Bureau of the local
section of the Staff Committee in Brussels. He explains             An action against the Council of the European Union was
that, following the election, in February 1997, of the              brought before the Court of First Instance of the European
members of the local Staff Committee in Brussels, that              Communities on 2 March 1998 by the Foreign Trade
committee held a constituent meeting to appoint the                 Association (FTA), HypermarcheÂ Auchan SA, Karstadt
members of its Bureau. Rather than distributing the seats           Aktiengesellschaft, Kaufhof Warenhaus AG, La Blanche
on the Bureau fairly in proportion with the electoral               Porte, Otto Versand GmbH & Co., Quelle Schickedanz
results, three trade union and staff associations took all          AG & Co. and Textilimportörerna, all represented by
the seats on the pretext of the slim majority which those           Ursula Schliessner, with an address for service in
three organisations had in the local committee in Brussels.         Luxembourg at the Offices of Arendt & Medernach, 8Ð
All other trade union and staff associations were left out          10, rue Mathias Hardt.
of the Bureau. The present proceedings are brought
following rejection of the request for intervention by the
appointing authority to put the situation right.                    The applicants claim that the Court should:
                                                                    Ð declare Council Regulation (EC) No 2398/97 to be
In support of his claims, the applicant argues that the                  illegal and void,
contested decison breaches
                                                                    Ð take such other steps as justice may require, and
Ð Article 2(1) of the Staff Regulations and the decision
    of the Commission concerning the exercise of the                Ð order the Commission to pay the costs of the
    powers conferred on the appointing authority by the                  applicants in the present proceedings.
    Staff Regulations, published in Administrative notices'
    No 498 of 7 April 1986, in that the contested decision
    was signed by the member of the Commission                      Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
    responsible for personnel and administration, whereas
    only the Commission as a whole or the Director-                 By the contested Regulation a definitive anti-dumping
    General of Personnel and Administration had the                 duty has been imposed on imports of bed-linen of cotton
    authority to sign it,                                           fibres, pure or mixed with man-made fibres or flax
                                                                    bleached, dyed or printed originating in India, Pakistan
                                                                    and Egypt.
Ð Articles 9, 10, 11 and 14 of the Rules laying down
    the composition and operation of the Staff Committee'
    adopted by the Commission on 25 April 1988, and                 The applicants other than the Foreign Trade Association
    Articles 7 and 32 of the Internal Rules of the local            (FTA) are the largest European importers and retailers of
    Staff Committee in Brussels, in that the Commission             bed-linen products. Each is a member of the applicant
    decided that it need not intervene to ensure collective        Foreign Trade Association (FTA), which is an association
    responsibility' and proportional' representation in the        of European importer and retail interests principally in the
    membership of the Bureau of the local Staff                     textile and consumer products sector. Also included
    Committee in Brussels, following the elections at issue.        among the FTA's members are national importer
                                                                    associations.
The applicant argues further that it is unacceptable, under         The applicants plead an infringement of Article 1(4) of the
the provisions mentioned, for certain elected members of            Basic Regulation, Regulation (EC) No 384/94, arguing
the local Staff Committee to take up all the seats on the           that the Commission abused its discretion regarding the
Bureau on the basis of a slim majority of votes. Moreover,          like product' detemination when, in rejecting the
such an attitude runs counter to the general principle in           applicants' submissions in that regard, it did not justify
Article 9(3) of the Staff Regulations, the underlying aim of        this by reference, at the very least, to the standard of the
which is to allow the joint expression of all political             objective evidence or explanation submitted by the
positions found among the staff in such a way that a                applicants.
majority does not oppress a minority and thus deprive it
of genuine and effective representation.
                                                                    Furthermore, the applicants submit that the Council has
                                                                    committed a manifest error of assessment of the
                                                                    Community interest within the meaning of Article 21 of
 ---pagebreak--- 11.4.98              EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                C 113/21
the Basic Regulation, in particular with respect to the            Instance of the European Communities has ordered the
potential impact of definitive anti-dumping measures on            removal from the register of Case T-78/94: Hermann
importers/retailers and consumers. The procedure within            Cordes v. Council of the European Union and
the meaning of Article 21 requires an active analysis of           Commission of the European Communities.
the Community interest issues, at least to the extent that
these are raised by interested parties. Once legitimate            (1) OJ C 103, 11.4.1994.
points are raised in this context, the Commission is bound
either to agree and make recommendations accordingly to
the Council for its definitive measures, or to provide a
reasonable explanation of its decision to the contrary.
Neither of these steps was taken in this case, contrary to
the legitimate expectations of the applicants.                           Removal from the register of Case T-192/95 (1)
Finally, the applicants submit that the Council's decision                                 (98/C 113/52)
to impose definitive anti-dumping duties on top of the
existing quantitative restrictions on imports of the product                      (Language of the case: English)
concerned from two (India and Pakistan) of the three
exporting countries is contrary to the principle of                By order of 5 February 1998 the President of the Third
proportionality.                                                   Chamber, Extended Composition, of the Court of First
                                                                   Instance of the European Communities has ordered the
                                                                   removal from the register of Case T-192/95: Hitachi Ltd,
                                                                   Matsushita Electronics Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric
                                                                   Corporation, NEC Corporation, Oki Electric Industry Co.
                                                                   Ltd, Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd, Sharp Corporation and
      Removal from the register of Case T-191/93 (1)               Toshiba Corporation v. Commission of the European
                        (98/C 113/49)                              Communities.
               (Language of the case: German)                      (1) OJ C 351, 30.12.1995.
By order of 30 January 1998 the President of the First
Chamber, Extended Composition, of the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities has ordered the
removal from the register of Case T-191/93: Albrecht Graf
Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt v. Council of the European Union.                   Removal from the register of Case T-215/95 (1)
                                                                                           (98/C 113/53)
(1) OJ C 270, 19.10.1992.
                                                                                   (Language of the case: Italian)
                                                                   By order of 2 February 1998 the President of the Fourth
                                                                   Chamber, Extended Composition, of the Court of First
Removal from the register of Joined Cases T-207/93 and             Instance of the European Communities has ordered the
                         T-224/93 (1)                              removal from the register of Case T-215/95: Telecom Italia
                        (98/C 113/50)                              SpA v. Commission of the European Communities.
               (Language of the case: German)                      (1) OJ C 46, 17.2.1996.
By order of 30 January 1998 the President of the First
Chamber, Extended Composition, of the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities has ordered the
removal from the register of Joined Cases T-207/93 and
T-224/93: Hans-Erdmann von Flotow and Gunda                              Removal from the register of Case T-197/96 (1)
Bergmann v. Commission of the European Communities.
                                                                                           (98/C 113/54)
(1) OJ C 270, 19.10.1992.
                                                                                   (Language of the case: Italian)
                                                                   By order of 30 January 1998 the President of the Fourth
                                                                   Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European
                                                                   Communities has ordered the removal from the register of
       Removal from the register of Case T-78/94 (1)               Case T-197/96: Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano
                                                                   Reggiano and Latteria Sociale Spadarotta soc. coop. arl v.
                        (98/C 113/51)
                                                                   Commission of the European Communities.
               (Language of the case: German)
                                                                   (1) OJ C 54, 22.2.1997.
By order of 30 January 1998 the President of the First
Chamber, Extended Composition, of the Court of First