CELEX: C2005/093/68
Language: en
Date: 2005-04-16 00:00:00
Title: Case C-48/05: Action brought on 28 January 2005 by Yves Franchet and Daniel Byk against the Commission of the European Communities

16.4.2005   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 93/36
            
         Action brought on 28 January 2005 by Yves Franchet and Daniel Byk against the Commission of the European Communities
   (Case C-48/05)
   (2005/C 93/68)
   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 28 January 2005 by Yves Franchet, residing in Nice (France), and Daniel Byk, residing in Luxembourg, represented by Georges Vandersanden and Laure Levi, lawyers.
   The applicants claim that the Court should:
   
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               order the Commission, on account of the errors committed, to make good the pecuniary and non-pecuniary harm sustained by the applicants, provisionally evaluated at EUR 1 million;
            
         
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               order the Commission to pay the entire costs.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   The applicants were accused by OLAF of criminal offences relating to the administration of certain files concerning Eurostat. The applicants maintain that the measures subsequently taken by the Commission contain procedural errors and fail to respect their fundamental rights.
   In the applicants' submission, OLAF erred in forwarding the file relating to the accusations to the French and Luxembourg judicial authorities without informing the applicants or the Commission that it was doing so, breached the principle of confidentiality, disregarded the presumption of innocence, the principle of good administration and Article 9 of Regulation No 1073/1999, (1) the right to be heard and the obligation to state reasons. The applicants further rely on OLAF's opposition to access to certain documents and, last, claim that OLAF failed to deal with the cases within a reasonable time and infringed Articles 6 and 11 of Regulation No 1973/1999.
   The applicants also claim that the Commission erred in not ensuring confidentiality and in failing to have regard for fundamental rights, in particular the rights of defence and the principle of the presumption of innocence. The applicants further criticise the Commission for having adopted an adversarial approach and for having duplicated the proceedings, for having breached the principle of good administration and, last, for having refused access to the OLAF documents in its possession.
   The applicants claim that those errors caused them non-pecuniary and pecuniary harm.
   
      (1)  Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (OJ L 136, p. 1).