CELEX: C1999/314/23
Language: en
Date: 1999-10-30 00:00:00
Title: Order of the President of the Court of First Instance of 10 September 1999 in Case T-173/99 R: Gilbert Elkaïm and Philippe Mazuel v Commission of the European Communities (Proceedings for interim relief - Officials - Urgency - None)

C 314/10               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                    30.10.1999
ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST                             (2) order the Commission to pay the costs.
                           INSTANCE
                     of 10 September 1999
                                                                         Pleas in law and main arguments
in Case T-173/99 R: Gilbert Elkaïm and Philippe Mazuel v
        Commission of the European Communities
                                                                         The applicant manufactures starch from potatoes and maize
                                                                         and markets its products both within Austria and abroad, in
(Proceedings for interim relief — Officials — Urgency —                  the non-food sector (paper industry, chemical industry, textile
                              None)                                      industry, etc.) and in the biological sector.
                        (1999/C 314/23)
                                                                         The contested decision declared the aid plan, by which aid
                                                                         corresponding to 20 % of the investment costs was to be
                   (Language of the case: French)                        granted to the applicant in respect of the investments made by
                                                                         it in its plant in Aschach (converting a high-pressure soaking
                                                                         facility for maize starch to standard technology and increasing
In Case T-173/99 R: Gilbert Elkaïm, residing in Paris, and               its capacity; investing in a saccharification line using maize
Philippe Mazuel, residing in Brussels, represented by Nicolas            starch as the raw material), to be incompatible with the
Ravailhe, of the Brussels Bar, v Commission of the European              common market and refused approval of that aid plan.
Communities (Agents: Gianluigi Valsesia and Florence Clo-
tuche-Duvieusart) — application for suspension of the pro-
cedure for the recruitment of successful candidates in open
                                                                         The applicant advances the following pleas:
competition COM/A/15/98 — the President of the Court of
First Instance made an order on 10 September 1999, the
operative part of which is as follows:                                   — At the time of the opening of the investigation procedure
                                                                              concerning the grant of aid to the Aschach plant, the
1. The application for interim measures is dismissed.                         two-month ‘Lorenz’ time-limit had already expired. Conse-
                                                                              quently, the Republic of Austria is (and was) entitled to
2. The costs are reserved.                                                    implement the aid measures. The Commission’s decision,
                                                                              according to which the aid plan may not be implemented,
                                                                              is therefore unlawful.
                                                                         — In Article 151(1) of the Act of Accession of Austria, in
                                                                              conjunction with Declaration No 31 appended to the Final
                                                                              Act, the Contracting Parties agreed to show flexibility with
Action brought on 20 August 1999 by Agrana Zucker-                            regard to transitional national aid schemes designed to
GesmbH against the Commission of the European Com-                            facilitate the restructuring of the processing industry in
                             munities                                         Austria with a view to adjustment to the internal market.
                                                                              As a result, the Commission is under an obligation, in
                                                                              cases involving aid plans such as this, to refrain from
                         (Case T-187/99)                                      applying a narrow construction to the exception provided
                                                                              for by Article 87(3)(c) EC, as it would normally do, and
                        (1999/C 314/24)                                       instead to interpret that provision widely, having regard to
                                                                              the special ‘accession scenario’ (that is to say, the special
                                                                              situation prevailing in the processing industry in Austria
                 (Language of the Case: German)                               where accession is not accompanied by transitional
                                                                              arrangements). The Commission failed to do this in the
                                                                              contested decision; in exercising its discretion, it thus
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                     infringed the rules of primary law laid down by the Act of
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                    Accession.
European Communities on 20 August 1999 by Agrana
Zucker-GesmbH, of Vienna, represented by Walter Barfuß and
Hanno Wollmann, of Messrs Schönherr Barfuß Torggler &                    — In its decision, the Commission failed to consider, or gave
Partners, Vienna, with an address for service in Luxembourg at                only rudimentary consideration to, the main argument
the Chambers of Messrs Arendt & Medernach. 8-10 Rue                           advanced by the Republic of Austria throughout the aid
Mathias Hardt.                                                                procedure, based on Declaration No 31 appended to the
                                                                              Final Act and the need to give the Austrian processing
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                   industry (particularly the starch industry) the opportunity
                                                                              to carry out structural adjustments. Consequently, the
(1) annul Commission Decision 1999/342/EC of 30 Septem-                       contested decision is vitiated by an absence of reasoning
    ber 1998 concerning aid which Austria plans to grant to                   within the meaning of Article 253 EC.
    Agrana Stärke GmbH to build and convert starch pro-
    duction facilities (notified under document num-
    ber C(1998) 3023) (OJ 1999 L 131, p. 61; correction
    published in OJ 1999 L 145, p. 40);