CELEX: C1998/094/71
Language: en
Date: 1998-03-28 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 29 December 1997 by Cordis Obst und Gemüse Grosshandel GmbH against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-612/97)

28.3.98               EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                                   C 94/27
brought before the Court of First Instance of the European         Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Communities on 8 December 1997 by J. Ward, B. Ward
and Mrs M. Lewis, represented by Rory Hutchings,
Solicitor, of Messrs Dawson & Co., of 2 New Square,                The applicant, the company which owns the vessel Albor
Lincoln's Inn, London WC2A 3RZ.                                    Uno, alleges that the defendant failed to use its exclusive
                                                                   powers in the fisheries sector when the aforementioned
The applicant claims that the Court should:                        vessel was seized, and subsequently arrested, on 16 July
                                                                   1997 by a Moroccan patrol vessel on the ground that it
Ð order the Council and/or the Commission for damages              was fishing 4,5 nautical miles off the Moroccan coast. The
    in accordance with Schedule 1 attached hereto,                 applicant denies this and asserts that the vessel was
                                                                   13 miles offshore when it was seized. Moreover, the
                                                                   limited measures which the Commission took merely
Ð order the Council and/or the Commission to pay the               consisted of visiting the vessel, drawing up an expert
    applicant's costs.                                             report and replying to a fax from the applicant. Although
                                                                   it is true that the Commission called a meeting of the EU-
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                Morocco Joint Committee, whose task it is to ensure the
                                                                   observance of fishing agreements, Morocco refused
The applicant challenges the damaging consequences of              systematically to attend that meeting. The relase of the
the fact that, unlike the position with respect to SLOM I          vessel was achieved after difficult negotiations undertaken
and II, he, as a SLOM II milk producer, has not been               directly and at personal level between the shipowner and
compensated for the absence of quota prior to the                  the relevant Moroccan authorities with no official
introduction of SLOM quota.                                        participation at any time, either on the part of the Spanish
                                                                   or Community authorities.
The grounds and main arguments are the same as those
raised in case T-304/97 Hilsdon v. Council and
Commission.                                                        In the applicant's view, the defendant's failure to act was
                                                                   detrimental to the right to a fair hearing of a Community
                                                                   undertaking and vessel and deprived them of protection
                                                                   since the only way of establishing the facts was by
                                                                   communicating with the Moroccan authorities, which was
                                                                   not done, and monitoring the situation by the Community
                                                                   was the only safeguard, which, by being delegated to the
Action brought on 10 December 1997 by Pescados
                                                                   Spanish authorities, was in fact denied. Moreover, the fact
Congelados Jogamar SL against the Commission of the
                                                                   that Morocco does not regard the GPS system as a means
                    European Communities
                                                                   of establishing a vessel's position and accepts only its
                        (Case T-311/97)                            naval radar reports is seriously detrimental to the rights of
                          (98/C 94/70)                             the defence of fishing vessels equipped with that system.
               (Language of the case: Spanish)
                                                                   Finally, if it is indeed the Community which is competent
                                                                   by virtue of the fishing agreements, it falls to it to
An action against the Commission of the European
                                                                   denounce the total and complete ineffectiveness of an
Communities was brought before the Court of First
                                                                   agreement which deprives European Union citizens and
Instance of the European Communities on 10 December
                                                                   vessels of any protection, and to take measures to prevent
1997 by Pescados Congelados Jogamar SL, whose
                                                                   it or, on the contrary, to emend Community law.
registered office is at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain),
represented by Manuel de Cristóbal López, of the Madrid
Bar, with an address for service at 15 Calle Prim, Madrid.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
Ð uphold this action for declaration of failure to act;
                                                                   Action brought on 29 December 1997 by Cordis Obst und
    declare that the European Commission's failure to
                                                                   Gemüse Grosshandel GmbH against the Commission of
    take action with regard to the seizure of the Albor
                                                                                      the European Communities
    Uno constitutes a breach of the EEC Treaty (Article 38
    et seq.) and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3954/92                                    (Case T-612/97)
    of 19 December 1992 on the conclusion of the
    Agreement on relations in the sea fisheries sector                                       (98/C 94/71)
    between the European Economic Community and the
    Kingdom of Morocco and laying down provisions for
    its implementation; declare that the European                                  (Language of the case: German)
    Commission should take action itself rather than
    delegate power to the national authorities in the
    fisheries sector; and make an express order requiring          An action against the Commission of the European
    the European Commission to pay the costs incurred.             Communities was brought before the Court of First
 ---pagebreak--- C 94/28              EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                    28.3.98
Instance of the European Communities on 29 December                 Action brought on 31 December 1997 by Aduanas Pujol
1997 by Cordis Obst und Gemüse Grosshandel GmbH,                    Rubio, SA, and Others against the Commission of the
Ostrau, Federal Republic of Germany, represented by, and                               European Communities
having an address for service at the offices of, Gert Meier,
                                                                                          (Case T-614/97)
Rechtsanwalt, 10 Jakordenstrasse, Cologne.
                                                                                            (98/C 94/72)
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                                   (Language of the case: Spanish)
Ð annul, on the grounds of infringement of the Treaty
     and misuse of powers, the decision of the Commission           An action against the Commission of the European
     of 24 October 1997 on the adoption of transitional             Communities was brought before the Court of First
     measures in favour of Cordis Obst und Gemüse                   Instance of the European Communities on 31 December
     Grosshandel GmbH under the common organisation                 1997 by Aduanas Pujol Rubio SA and other Spanish
     of the market in bananas,                                      customs agents, represented by Santiago MunÄoz Machado,
                                                                    of the Madrid Bar, with an address for service in
                                                                    Luxembourg at the Chambers of Carlos Amo QuinÄones,
Ð order the Commission to pay the costs.                            2 Rue Gabriel Lipmann.
                                                                    The applicants claim that the Court should:
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                    Ð order the defendant to pay compensation to the
The applicant was founded in November 1990 and is a                      applicants, by way of non-contractual liability, for the
wholesale fruit business which operates in Saxony, thus in               damage alleged in the present application to the extent
the area of the former German Democratic Republic. On                    to which the Spanish State has not been found liable
its incorporation it absorbed parts of the former East                   by the national courts,
German farmer's cooperative in order to give the workers
of that concern the opportunity of continued employment.
In July 1991 a banana-ripening plant with an annual
                                                                    Ð order the defendant to pay the costs.
capacity of 11 960 tonnes began operating. The contested
decision rejected the request made by the applicant in
accordance with Article 30 of Regulation (EEC) No 404/
93 for the grant of additional ripening licences amounting          Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
to at least 5 000 tonnes as a transitional measure to
compensate for hardship which was not the applicant's
fault and had come about as a result of the rules on                The applicants state that the claim for damages which is
reference periods in Article 19(2) of the Regulation.               the subject matter of the present action does not arise
                                                                    from the loss of business as a result of the gradual
                                                                    removal of customs posts but rather from the actual costs
                                                                    of conversion (essentially dismissals) which they have had
In the applicant's view, the Community institutions were
                                                                    to incur as a result of the total and sudden abolition of
required in accordance with the principle of equal
                                                                    customs formalities between Member States of the
treatment to take account of the different starting
                                                                    Community. The applicants acknowledge that such
positions of old and new businesses. The Council was
                                                                    abolition of customs posts within the Community in view
already obliged to implement such special arrangements in
                                                                    of the creation of the internal market had already been
favour of the new businesses in the new German Länder.
                                                                    announced in Article 2 of the Treaty of Rome. None the
However, following the judgment of the Court of Justice
                                                                    less, the applicants point out that the steps provided for its
of the European Communities in Case C-280/93 (1) which
                                                                    creation were restricted to the abolition of customs duties,
accords the Council a wide legislative discretion, it is to be
                                                                    not of the customs posts themselves. The latter arises
assumed that the Council could leave it to the
                                                                    directly from Article 13 of the Single European Act.
Commission to arrange for appropriate compensation for
                                                                    Nevertheless, implementation of the mandate contained in
the special sacrifices required of the new businesses. That
                                                                    that provision was subject to the condition that it be
is all the more true inasmuch as, by Article 30 of
                                                                    gradual, a condition breached by the Community
Regulation (EEC) No 404/93, the Commission was given
                                                                    legislature. This constitutes the first plea alleging
a broad framework within which to act. By failing, in
                                                                    unlawfulness.
breach of the principle of equal treatment, to make full
use of that framework, the Commission misused its
powers and infringed the Treaty.
                                                                    The applicants seek a finding of non-contractual liability
                                                                    against the Community authorities for the legislation
(1) Case C-280/93 Germany v. Council [1994] ECR I-4973.             which brought into force simultaneously on 1 January
                                                                    1993 provisions abolishing customs formalities without
                                                                    providing for proper transitional measures for the
                                                                    retraining of customs agents.