CELEX: C2001/061/43
Language: en
Date: 2001-02-24 00:00:00
Title: Case T-387/00: Action brought on 28 December 2000 by Comitato organizzatore del convegno internazionale "Effetti degli inquinamenti atmosferici sul clima e sulla vegetazione" against Commission of the European Communities

24.2.2001              EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                         C 61/23
The applicant claims that the Court should:                               The applicant claims that the Court should:
—     annul the decision of the selection board rejecting the             —     annul the contested measure;
      application of the applicant in internal competition B/172
      opened by the notice published in Summary No 31/99;
                                                                          —     in the alternative, annul the contested measure and order
—     annul the decision establishing the list of suitable candi-               the defendant Commission to exclude from the agreed
      dates and all decisions taken by the defendant on the                     financing only the item of expenditure evidenced by the
      basis of such decisions;                                                  invoice from Linguistlink Ltd. No 67/91 for
                                                                                LIT 11 900 000 and declare the debt discharged in
                                                                                respect of the other lawful expenditure;
—     order the Parliament to pay the costs.
                                                                          —     order the defendant Commission to pay all the costs of
Pleas in law and main arguments                                                 the proceedings pursuant of Article 87 of the Rules of
                                                                                Procedure.
The applicant in the present case contests the refusal of the
selection board in internal competition B 7/172 to admit her
to the tests in that competition, the criteria for admission to           Pleas in law and main arguments
which she claims to fulfil.
                                                                          The present application has been made against the measure
In support of her application, she pleads:                                adopted by Directorate General XIX Budget, issued on 10 Octo-
                                                                          ber 2000 under number BUDG/G2/CBI-D(2000)96003569
—     infringement of Article 25 of the Staff Regulations;                requesting repayment and the debit note in relation to contract
                                                                          B4/91/3046/11396 of 20 December 1991, for financing for
—     infringement of Article 5 of Annex III to those Regu-               the applicant Committee. The purpose of that financing
      lations, resulting from a manifest error of assessment;             contract was to enable the organisation of a conference of
                                                                          international studies entitled ‘Effects of atmospheric pollutants
—     breach of the duty to have regard for the welfare and               on climate and vegetation’.
      interests of officials and of the principle of sound
      administration.
                                                                          The applicant states in that regard that:
                                                                          —     The conference followed the normal course in Taormina
                                                                                from 26 to 29 September 1991.
                                                                          —     The cost estimate was calculated at LIT 718 462 500,
                                                                                including VAT.
Action brought on 28 December 2000 by Comitato
organizzatore del convegno internazionale ‘Effetti degli                  —     Immediately after the conference, all the documentation
inquinamenti atmosferici sul clima e sulla vegetazione’                         relating to it was destroyed by a fire at the offices of the
    against Commission of the European Communities                              company which organised the conference. On account of
                                                                                events beyond its control the Organising Committee was
                         (Case T-387/00)                                        unable to recover the original statements and so had to
                                                                                undertake a complex reconstruction of them.
                          (2001/C 61/43)
                                                                          —     Following an initial claim for payment, in response to
                                                                                which the applicant sent documents which, in its view,
                                                                                were more than sufficient to prove and account for the
                   (Language of the case: Italian)                              expenditure incurred, the Commission remained silent
                                                                                for fully two years, giving rise to a legitimate expectation
                                                                                on the part of the Committee that the documentation
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                       had been accepted and that all actions for recovery had
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                      been abandoned.
European Communities on 28 December 2000 by the Comita-
to organizzatore del convegno internazionale "Effetti degli
inquinamenti atmosferici sul clima e sulla vegetazione" (Organ-           —     Instead, and to its great surprise, the Directorate General
ising Committee for the International Conference on ‘The                        concerned repeats its request for repayment, again with-
Effects of Atmospheric Pollutants on Climate and Vegetation’),                  out providing reasons, according to the applicant, and
represented by Paolo Grassi e Giuseppe Russo, with an address                   with no reference to an actual measure annulling the
for service in Luxembourg.                                                      financing.
 ---pagebreak--- C 61/24               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                    24.2.2001
In support of its claims, the applicant alleges:                        —    breach of essential procedural requirements, for failing to
                                                                             take into account the fire, an act of God, which prevented
                                                                             the documents provided for in the financing contract
—    breach of essential procedural requirements, inasmuch as                from being sent, and for breach of the audi alteram
     the requests for repayment lack any statement of reasons                partem rule.
     and no indication is given of any evidence or measure on
     the basis of which the debit note was issued. Nor has the          —    misuse of powers in respect of failure to acknowledge
     defendant given reasons for not accepting the probative                 expenditure on translation, for which there was docu-
     value of the documents sent by the applicant.                           mentation.