CELEX: C1997/318/07
Language: en
Date: 1997-10-18 00:00:00
Title: Appeal brought on 19 July 1997 by the cooperative society 'Verenigde Bloemenveilingen Aalsmeer' (VBA) BA against the judgment delivered on 14 May 1997 by the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in Case T-77/94 between, on the one hand, Vereniging van Groothandelaren in Bloemkwekerijprodukten, Florimex BV, Inkoop Service Aalsmeer BV and M. Verhaar BV and, on the other hand, the Commission of the European Communities, supported by the cooperative society 'Verenigde Bloemenveilingen Aalsmeer' (VBA) BA (Case C-266/97 P)

18 . 10 . 97            EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                   C 318/5
Appeal brought on 19 July 1997 by the cooperative                         for the failure to observe the time limit set by the
society 'Verenigde Bloemenveilingen Aalsmeer' (VBA) BA                    Commission. It thereby formulated a rule of law for
against the judgment delivered on 14 May 1997 by the                      which no support can be found in Regulation No 17/
Court of First Instance of the European Communities in                    62/EEC, in Regulation No 99/63/EEC, in the Treaty or
Case T-77/94 between, on the one hand, Vereniging van                     in the case-law and thus wrongly held the action to be
Groothandelaren in Bloemkwekerijprodukten, Florimex                       admissible .
BV, Inkoop Service Aalsmeer BV and M. Verhaar BV and,
on the other hand, the Commission of the European
Communities, supported by the cooperative society
      'Verenigde Bloemenveilingen Aalsmeer' (VBA) BA                   — The Court of First Instance wrongly failed to find at
                                                                          the outset that Article 85 ( 1 ) of the EC Treaty is not
                        ( Case C-266/97 P )                               applicable to the levying of various charges on direct
                           ( 97/C 318/07 )                                supplies ( the user fee ) and on supplies under the trade
                                                                          agreements . It thereby erred in law by limiting the
                                                                          scope of application of Article 85 ( 1 ) and wrongly
                                                                          applied that provision by assessing the different
An appeal against the judgment delivered on 14 May                        charges in the context of that limitation of the Treaty.
1997 by the Court of First Instance of the European
Communities in Case T-77/94 between, on the one hand,
Vereniging van Groothandelaren in Bloemkwekerijproduk­
ten, Florimex BV, Inkoop Service Aalsmeer BV and                       — In its judgment, specifically in paragraphs 116 to 119,
M. Verhaar BV and, on the other hand, the Commission                      the Court of First Instance uses a criterion as regards
of the European Communities, supported by the                             discrimination which is wrong in law, or errs in law in
cooperative society 'Verenigde Bloemenveilingen Aalsmeer'                 its application of that criterion, or at least gives an
( VBA ) BA, was brought before the Court of Justice of the                insufficient and, moreover, incomprehensible statement
European Communities on 19 July 1997 by the                               of reasons when it considers in paragraph 116
cooperative society 'Verenigde Bloemenveilingen Aalsmeer'                 that holders of trade agreements are privileged in
( VBA ) BA, represented by G. van der Wal, with an                        comparison with traders with whom the VBA has not
address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of                      entered into such contracts : the financial conditions
Aloyse May, 31 Grand-Rue .                                                applied to holders of trade agreements must be
                                                                          regarded as a whole and cannot be confined merely to
                                                                          the charge on direct supplies .
The appellant claims that the Court should :
1 . declare the VBA's appeal against the judgment of the               — The Court of First Instance wrongly and, in the light
     Court of First Instance of the European Communities                  of the documents before it, incomprehensibly holds
     of 14 May 1997 in Case T-77/94 admissible;                           that the calculations submitted by the VBA, comparing
                                                                          the trade agreements with the user fee, have no
                                                                          relevance to the conclusion that holders of trade
2 . set aside the judgment of the Court of First Instance of              agreements are privileged because the user fee is not
     the European Communities of 14 May 1997 in Case                      levied on tenants ( paragraph 116 ). The Court appears
     T-77/94 and, ruling afresh, declare the action brought               expressly to have taken no account of the propositions
     by Vereniging van Groothandelaren in Bloemkwekerij­                  of either the VBA or the Commission, thus failing to
     produkten, Florimex BV, Inkoop Service Aalsmeer BV                   give a proper statement of its reasoning and erring in
                                                                          law.
     and M. Verhaar BV against the decision of
     20 December 1993 inadmissible and in any event
     dismiss it; and
                                                                       — The Court of First Instance wrongly, in paragraph 118 ,
                                                                          proceeds on the basis that it is not established that the
3 . order Vereniging van Groothandelaren in Bloemkwe­                     holders of trade agreements have accepted obligations
     kerijprodukten, Florimex BV, Inkoop Service Aalsmeer                 vis-a-vis the VBA capable of justifying the difference
     BV and M. Verhaar BV jointly and severally to pay the                between the 3 % fee and the rate of the user fee and
     costs of both sets of proceedings in accordance with                 that the Commission therefore committed an error of
     Article 69 ( 2 ) of the Rules of Procedure .
                                                                          fact or of assessment ( paragraph 119 ) in so far as it
                                                                          found that such obligations existed . The view taken by
                                                                          the Court is, in the light of the documents before it,
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                       clearly wrong and thus incomprehensible . It wrongly
                                                                          links a finding on the substance in Case T-77/94 to the
                                                                          finding that a claim relating to the statement of
— The       Court     of First Instance wrongly held,          at         reasons in Joined Cases T-70/92 and T-71 /92 is well­
     paragraph 76, that the right to a fair hearing means                 founded .
     that the fact that the complainants exceeded the time
     limit set for responding to an Article 6 letter cannot
     lead to closure of the procedure on the complaints
     where special circumstances might legitimately account