CELEX: C1995/137/67
Language: en
Date: 1995-06-03 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 6 March 1995 by Syndicat Français de L'Express International (SFEI), DHL International, SERCIVE CRIE and MAY COURIER against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-77/95)

3 . 6 . 95             EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 137/29
Action brought on 6 March 1995 by Syndicat Fran^ais de               certain activities to which objection was taken in the
L'Express International ( SFEI ), DHL International,                 complaint.
SERCIVE CRIE and MAY COURIER against the
          Commission of the European Communities                     The applicants maintain that, by rejecting their complaint,
                        ( Case T-77/95 )                             the Commission infringed Articles 86 and 190 of the EC
                          ( 95/C 137/67 )
                                                                     Treaty and also the principles of proper administration and
                                                                     non-discrimination. They also consider that the contested
                                                                     decision is vitiated by misuse of powers and manifest errors
                                                                     of assessment of the Community interest.
                 (Language of the case: French)
An action against the Commission of the European
Communities was brought before the Court of First
Instance of the European Communities on 6 March 1995 by
Syndicat Fran^ais de PExpress International ( SFEI ), DHL
International, SERVICE CRIE and MAY COURIER,                         Action brought on 9 March 1995 by Interhotel, Sociedade
established in France, represented by Eric Morgan de                 Internacional de Hoteis, SARL, against the Commission of
Rivery, of the Paris Bar, and Jacques Derenne, of the                                   the European Communities
Brussels and Paris Bars, with an address for service in                                        ( Case T-81/95 )
Luxembourg at the Chambers of Alex Schmitt, 62 Avenue                                            ( 95/C 137/68 )
Guillaume .
                                                                                    (Language of the case: Portuguese)
The applicants claim that the Court should :
                                                                     An action against the Commission of the European
— annul the Commission's decision SG(94)D/19144 of                   Communities was brought before the Court of First
     30 December 1994 , and                                          Instance of the European Communities on 9 March 1995 by
                                                                     Interhotel, Sociedade Internacional de Hoteis, SARL, whose
                                                                     registered office is in Lisbon, Rua Castilho, No 50, 5th floor,
— order the Commission to pay the costs .                            represented by Dr Jose Miguel Alarcao Judice, of the Lisbon
                                                                     Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office
                                                                     of Dr Victor Gillen, Avocat, 13 Rue Aldringen.
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                     The applicant claims that the Court should :
The applicants point out that they lodged with the
Commission a complaint against the French Post Office and            — annul the Commission's decision of 28 December
the French State with a view to obtaining a finding of                     1994,
infringement of Articles 86 and 90 of the EC Treaty in the
context of the market in international rapid delivery
services . In their complaint the applicants maintained that as      — order the Commission to pay the costs .
a result of State measures the French Post Office was
supplying the Societe Frangaise de Messagerie                        Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Internationale ( SFMI ), a company dependent on the Post
Office, with logistical and commercial assistance which had          The action challenging the legality of the Commission's
enabled it immediately to penetrate, from the market in              decision is well founded, first, on the ground of breach of the
basic postal services in which the Post Office holds a               general principles of law, such as stability, legal certainty
statutory monopoly, the related market in international              and the protection of legitimate expectations and, secondly,
rapid delivery services and, in some three years, to acquire         on the ground of the inadequate statement of the reasons on
the first place in that market at the expense of private             which it is based, entailing a breach of the applicant's
undertakings which were there before it.                             acquired rights .
The applicants state that the Commission decided to reject           ( a ) The applicant points out in the first place that, in the
their complaint on the grounds, first, that the taking into                 factual and legal context which must be considered for
account of the Community interest justified not initiating an               the purposes of a correct appraisal of its action and of
investigation under Article 86 into the facts alleged and,                  the responsibilities demanded of it, its conduct of the
secondly, that the decision not to oppose a concentration                   operation and the Commission's own assessment show
between certain postal authorities and the undertaking TNT                  that the irreproachable way in which the rules in force
had shown that the operation envisaged, in the postal sector                and , as soon as they were known, the applicable
and with at least one of the participants against whom the                  instructions were at all times complied with is not open
complaint was directed , would have made it possible to                     to question . This is true of all the alterations alleged by
mitigate or indeed eliminate some of the anti-competitive                   the Commission and of all the expenditure it regards as
conduct for which the French Post Office and the SFMI                       ineligible, which means that that expenditure will have
could have been responsible, precisely in the context of                    to be regarded as properly effected and accepted . A