CELEX: C2001/004/12
Language: en
Date: 2001-01-06 00:00:00
Title: Case T-335/00: Action brought on 7 November 2000 by Anthony Goldstein against the Commission of the European Communities

C 4/8                  EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                         6.1.2001
Action brought on 7 November 2000 by Anthony Gold-                       Action brought on 7 November 2000 by Sarah Tex Textil
stein against the Commission of the European Communi-                    Groß- und Einzelhandel GmbH against the Commission
                                ties                                                        of the European Communities
                        (Case T-335/00)                                                             (Case T-337/00)
                          (2001/C 4/12)                                                              (2001/C 4/13)
                                                                                              (Language of the case: German)
                   (Language of the case: English)
                                                                         An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the               European Communities on 7 November 2000 by Sarah Tex
European Communities on 7 November 2000 by Anthony                       Textil Groß- und Einzelhandel GmbH, Essen (Germany),
Goldstein, represented by Raymond St John Murphy, Solicitor,             represented by Dietrich Ehle, Rechtsanwalt, Cologne.
Merriman White, London (UK).
                                                                         The applicant claims that the Court should:
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                         —     annul Commission Decision REM 32/99 of 29 June 2000;
—     order the defendant to pay damages in the amount of
      EUR 1 000 000 to the applicant;                                    —     order the Commission to pay the costs.
—     order the amount of damages to bear default interest at
                                                                         Pleas in law and main arguments
      the annual rate of 4,5 % from the date of the judgment
      until the actual payment;
                                                                         The action concerns a decision by the Commission of 29 June
—     order the defendant to pay the costs of the applicant.             2000, refusing an application by the Federal Republic of
                                                                         Germany for leave to waive payment by the applicant of
                                                                         import duties of DEM 1 213 442 in respect of the importation
                                                                         of textile goods from Bangladesh. Post-clearance recovery of
Pleas in law and main arguments                                          the duties was demanded of the applicant on account of
                                                                         the revocation of preference certificates of the competent
                                                                         authorities in Bangladesh.
The applicant in the present case has studied law and in 1999
completed the Bar Vocational Course, a prerequisite for the
admission to the Bar of England and Wales and the practice of            The applicant accuses the Commission of infringing its right
law as a barrister.                                                      to a fair hearing, as at the time of the inspection of the files the
                                                                         applicant was not presented with all the relevant supporting
                                                                         documents. Nor could the applicant be accused of any obvious
He has lodged under Article 3 of Council Regulation No 17, a             negligence for the purposes of Article 239 of the Community
complaint relating to the requirement in certain circumstances           Customs Code. It had concluded normal commercial trans-
that a barrister should supply legal services only if briefed or         actions with producers and exporters in Bangladesh, whereby
instructed by a professional client. This rule should constitute         it was not apparent that some of the goods did not originate
restriction of competition contrary to Article 85 (now                   in Bangladesh. The applicant had thus acted in good faith on
Article 81) of the EC Treaty, inasmuch as consumers of legal             importation.
services are denied access to the market in legal services.
                                                                         Furthermore, the Commission failed to take account of
The applicant submits that, from a general point of view, the            maladministration by the Bangladeshi authorities in the issue
defendant incurred non-contractual liability by committing a             of certificates of origin and monitoring of the origin require-
misuse of power by refusing to adopt forthwith all measures              ments. Even the Commission itself had acted improperly, in
necessary to prevent the misrepresentation of the legal status           that, inter alia, it did not sufficiently supervise compliance with
of lawyers known as barristers by the Bar Council, in order to           the rules on origin and failed to issue a timely warning to
seal off the market for the supply of legal services to Lawyers          importers.
entitled to practice as barristers by concealing the Community
nature and effects of the professional qualification and the
                                                                         The applicant further submits that the principles of the
professional title required to be awarded by a Law school in
                                                                         protection of persons acting in good faith, equal treatment,
the United Kingdom on completion of the theoretical and
                                                                         proportionality and equity in individual circumstances call for
practical training for access to the profession of barrister.
                                                                         remission of the duties demanded post-clearance.