CELEX: C1997/166/37
Language: en
Date: 1997-05-31 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 28 March 1997 by Büchel & Co. Fahrzeugteilefabrik GmbH against the Council of the European Union (Case T-74/97)

No C 166/18           EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                  31 . 5 . 97
Action brought on 28 March 1997 by Biichel &C Co.                   The Reference Regulation makes provision for the
Fahrzeugteilefabrik GmbH against the Council of the                 Commission to grant exemptions to assemblers who do
                       European Union                               not satisfy the factual preconditions for circumvention .
                        ( Case T-74/97 )                            Pure importers of bicycle parts, on the other hand, are
                                                                    subject to the end-use procedure before the national
                          97/C 166/37
                                                                    customs authorities, introduced by the Reference
               (Language of the case: German)                       Regulation . That procedure makes the exemption under
                                                                    the Basic Regulation for undertakings which do not satisfy
                                                                    the factual preconditions for circumvention subject to
An action against the Council of the European Union was             further conditions, which were not provided for by the
brought before the Court of First Instance of the European          Basic Regulation and were therefore adopted without legal
Communities on 28 March 1997 by Biichel & Co. Fahr­                 basis . Those further conditions lead, moreover, to a
zeugteilefabrik GmbH, Fulda ( Federal Republic of                   restriction on the free movement of goods in the
Germany ), represented by Wolfgang A. Rehmann, Rechts­              Community and will therefore offend against the principle
anwalt, and Ute Zinsmeister, Rechtsanwaltin, Brussels,              of the free movement of goods . In addition, the end-use
with an address for service in Luxembourg at the                    procedure results in breach of the right to property and,
Chambers of Bonn & Schmitt, 62 Avenue Guillaume .                   because of the different treatment of assemblers and
                                                                    importers, offends against the principle of equal treatment.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
— annul Council Regulation ( EC ) No 71 /97,                        The applicant contends in an ancillary claim that
                                                                    Article 13 of the Basic Regulation, which constitutes the
— declare, pursuant to Article 184 of the EC Treaty, that           legal basis for the Reference Regulation, is inconsistent
     Article 13 of Council Regulation ( EC ) No 384/96 is           with Article VI of the GATT and the Agreement on
     inapplicable in so far as it constitutes the legal basis       Implementation of Article VI, since it allows duty to be
     for Regulation No 71 /97,                                      imposed in the case of circumvention without injury to the
                                                                    Community industry having to be proved . It contends
— order the defendant to pay the costs.                             additionally that Article VI of the GATT is infringed on
                                                                    the basis that, according to Article 13 of the Basic
                                                                    Regulation, duty can be imposed in the case of
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                 circumvention even if the goods are assembled or
                                                                    produced by a person who is not connected with an
The applicant produces mainly bicycle parts and trades               importer or producer whose exports of like products are
additionally in individual bicycle parts ( not produced in          subject to the definitive anti-dumping duty.
kits ), which are imported, inter alia, from the People's
Republic of China .
In this action, the applicant challenges Council Regulation
( EC ) No 71/97 (the 'Reference Regulation'), by which the
duty originally introduced for bicycles originating in the
People's Republic of China was extended to the import of             Action brought on 28 March 1997 by Biichel & Co. Fahr­
bicycle parts originating in that country. Although the              zeugteilefabrik GmbH against the Commission of the
applicant does not satisfy the factual preconditions for                               European Communities
circumvention, it was not granted exemption from the                                         Case T-75 /97 )
duty applicable in the case of circumvention.
                                                                                             97/C 166/38
The applicant contends that the Reference Regulation
should be annulled and relies thereby essentially on the                           (Language of the case: German)
 following grounds .
While the Commission investigation which led to adoption             An action against the Commission of the European
 of the Reference Regulation related solely to the import of         Communities was brought before the Court of First
 complete, pre-assembled bicycle parts ( assemblies), the            Instance of the European Communities on 28 March 1997
 duty applicable in the case of circumvention was imposed            by Biichel & Co . Fahrzeugteilefabrik GmbH, Fulda
 not only on the relevant assemblies but also on individual           (Federal Republic of Germany ), represented by Wolfgang
 bicycle parts, irrespective of whether or not they were             A. Rehmann, Rechtsanwalt, and Ute Zinsmeister,
 placed in kits . Such extension of the measures is not              Rechtsanwaltin, Brussels, with an address for service in
 covered by Article 13 of Regulation ( EC ) No 384/96 (the            Luxembourg at the Chambers of Bonn 8c Schmitt, 62
 'Basic Regulation ').                                               Avenue Guillaume .
 The extension of the anti-dumping duty to individual
 bicycle parts also offends against the principle of                  The applicant claims that the Court should :
 proportionality, since the measure chosen is not
 appropriate for achievement of the objective in view and
 is not the least onerous means .                                     — annul Commission Regulation ( EC ) No 88/97,