CELEX: C2003/251/34
Language: en
Date: 2003-10-18 00:00:00
Title: Case T-285/03: Action brought on 18 August 2003 by Agraz SA and 110 others against the Commission of the European Communities

C 251/18               EN                        Official Journal of the European Union                                          18.10.2003
Regulations) and breach of the principle of equality of treat-            Specifically, for the marketing year 2000/2001, the
ment and non-discrimination.                                              Commission took as its basis for calculating production aid
                                                                          the export prices of tomatoes from the United States, Israel
                                                                          and Turkey. It follows that the defendant did not take into
                                                                          account the export prices of China, although in 1999 it was
                                                                          the world's second largest producer of tomatoes. That basis for
                                                                          calculation significantly reduced production aid.
                                                                          In support of their claims, the applicants argue that the
Action brought on 18 August 2003 by Agraz SA and                          conditions in the Bergadem case-law are fulfilled in the present
110 others against the Commission of the European                         case.
                           Communities
                         (Case T-285/03)
                                                                          The applicants claim that that omission infringes the relevant
                         (2003/C 251/34)
                                                                          basic regulation (2), that the regulation confers rights on
                                                                          individuals and that the powers of the Commission when
                    (Language of the case: French)
                                                                          Regulation No 1519/2000 was adopted were extremely lim-
                                                                          ited, consisting merely in identifying the reference countries
                                                                          for the purposes of calculating the amount of the aid.
An action against the Commission of the European
Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance
of the European Communities on 18 August 2003 by the
company Agraz SA and 110 other companies, represented                     Finally, the Commission infringed the principles of good
by J.-L. da Cruz Vilaça, R. Oliveira, M.-J. Melícias and                  administration and legitimate expectations by failing to make
D. Choussy, laywers.                                                      the effort needed to learn the Chinese prices and by refusing,
                                                                          once it was notified of those prices, to amend the regulation.
The applicants claim that the Court should:                               (1) OJ L 174 of 13.7.2000, p. 29.
                                                                          (2) OJ L 297 of 21.11.1996, p. 29.
—     order the defendant to pay each applicant company the
      balance of the production aid together with interest at a
      rate fixed by the Court of First Instance as from 12 July
      2000 (or, in the alternative, as from 13 July 2000 or,
      further in the alternative, as from 16 July 2000) and until
      the actual day of payment;                                          Action brought on 15 August 2003 by The Gillette
                                                                          Company against the Office for Harmonisation in the
                                                                                   Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)
—     order the Commission to pay the costs, including those                                        (Case T-286/03)
      incurred by the applicants.
                                                                                                    (2003/C 251/35)
                                                                          (Language of the case to be determined pursuant to Article 131(2) of
                                                                          the Rules of Procedure — language in which the application was
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                                   submitted: German)
The present application seeks recognition of the extra-contrac-
tual liability of the Community arising from the damage alleg-
edly suffered by the applicants as the result of the method used          An action against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
to calculate the amount of production aid for processed                   Market (Trade Marks and Designs) was brought before the
tomato products for the marketing year 2000/2001 under                    Court of First Instance of the European Communities on
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1519/2000 of 12 July                        15 August 2003 by The Gillette Company, Boston (USA),
2000 setting for the 2000/01 marketing year the minimum                   represented by L. Kouker, lawyer. Wilkinson Sword GmbH,
price and the amount of production aid for processed tomato               Solingen (Germany), was also a party to the proceedings
products (1).                                                             before the Board of Appeal.