CELEX: C1997/318/39
Language: en
Date: 1997-10-18 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 4 July 1997 by Bo Forvass against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-203/97)

18 . 10 . 97            EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                   C 318/ 19
have been remitted in accordance with the principle                       Instance of the European Communities on 27 June 1997
of the protection of legitimate expectations, laid down                   by Dr Seufert GmbH, whose registered office is at
in particular in Article 5 ( 2 ) of Regulation ( EEC )                    Karlsruhe, represented by Dietrich Ehle, Rechtsanwalt,
No 1697/97.                                                               Cologne, with an address for service in Luxembourg at
                                                                          the Chambers of Marc Lucius, 6 rue Michel Welter,
(') See previous cases.                                                   Luxembourg.
                                                                          The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                          — annul Commission Decision REM 21 /96 of 25 March
Action brought on 27 June 1997 by Horten AG against                            1997, refusing the remission of a payment of
                                                                               DM 126 828,26 ,
        the Commission of the European Communities
                          ( Case T-191/97)
                                                                          — order the Commission to pay the costs.
                             ( 97IC 318/37)
                (Language of the case: German)                            Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
An action against the Commission of the European                          The pleas in law and main arguments put forward by the
Communities was brought before the Court of First                         applicant, whose predecessor imported colour television
Instance of the European Communities on 27 June 1997                      sets from Turkey in 1992 and 1993 , and which challenges
by Horten AG, whose registered office is at Diisseldorf,                  a Commission Decision addressed to Germany to the
represented by Dietrich Ehle, Rechtsanwalt, Cologne, with                 effect that the remission of import duties in its case would
an address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of                   be unjustified, are similar to those in Cases T- 186/97 and
Marc Lucius, 6 rue Michel Welter, Luxembourg.                             T-l 87/97 ( M.
The applicant claims that the Court should:                               (') See p. 17 and 18 of this Official Journal .
— annul        Commission          Decision    REM       14/96   of
     19 February 1997, refusing the remission of a payment
     of DM 123 809,12,
— order the Commission to pay the costs.                                  Action brought on 4 July 1997 by Bo Forvass against the
                                                                                    Commission of the European Communities
                                                                                                  ( Case T-203/97)
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                                                    ( 97/C 318/39 )
The pleas in law and main arguments put forward by the
applicant, which imported television sets from Turkey                                     (Language of the case: French)
between October 1992 and January 1993 and challenges a
Commission Decision addressed to Germany to the effect
that the remission of import duties in its case would be                  An action against the Commission of the European
unjustified, are similar to those in Cases T- 186/97 and                  Communities was brought before the Court of First
T-187/97 (').                                                             Instance of the European Communities on 4 July 1997 by
                                                                          Bo Forvass, residing in Brussels, represented by Nicolas
                                                                          Lhoest, of the Brussels Bar, with an address for service in
(') See p. 17 and 18 of this Official Journal.
                                                                          Luxembourg at the offices of Fiduciaire Myson sari, 30
                                                                          rue de Cessange .
                                                                          The applicant claims that the Court should:
Action brought on 27 June 1997 by Dr Seufert GmbH                        — rule that the applicant is entitled to be classified in
   against the Commission of the European Communities                          grade A 4, step 4, with effect from the date of his
                         ( Case T-192/97)                                      entry into service, namely 1 February 1996,
                            ( 97/C 318/38 )
                                                                         — consequently, annul the Commission's decision of
                (Language of the case: German)                                 19 March 1997 expressly rejecting the applicant's
                                                                               complaint,
An action against the Commission of the European
Communities was brought before the Court of First                        — order the defendant to pay all the costs.
 ---pagebreak--- C 318/20            [ EN 1                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                   18 . 10. 97
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                   Action brought on 7 July 1997 by EPAC, Empresa para a
                                                                      Agro-Alimentagao e Cereais, SA, against the Commission
                                                                                       of the European Communities
The applicant, a Swedish national employed as a grade                                         ( Case T-204/97 )
A 5 member of the temporary staff, contests his
classification in that grade . He points out, in that regard,                                   ( 97/C 318/40 )
that the Swedish version of the Official Journal of the
European Communities which the defendant sent to the
                                                                                    (Language of the case: Portuguese)
applicant in consequence of the interest expressed by the
latter referred to an offer of a grade A 4 post in the VAT
Unit of DG XXI ( offer 6T/XXI/94 ). Other posts were also             An action against the Commission of the European
offered at different grades in the same publication . After           Communities was brought before the Court of First
he had submitted his application for the abovementioned               Instance of the European Communities on 7 July 1997 by
post, it was formally offered to him by the Commission,               EPAC, Empresa para a Agro-Alimenta^ao e Cereais, SA,
which nevertheless indicated to him that he would be
                                                                      whose registered office is at Avenida Almirante Gago
classified in grade A 5 , step 1 . Upon the applicant pointing        Coutinho, N? 26 , Lisbon, represented by Joao Mota de
out that he had applied for an A 4 post, the competent                Campos, of the Lisbon Bar, with an address for service in
service of the Commission replied that the classification             Luxembourg at the Chambers of Joaquim Calvo Basaran,
in grade A 5 was provisional and that his definitive                  34 Boulevard Ernest Feltgen, 1515 Luxembourg.
classification would be determined by the Grading
Committee .     It was    not  until  six   months    after  the
commencement of his employment that the applicant                     The applicant claims that the Court should:
learned that he was to be definitively classified in grade
A 5 , step 3 , and that the initial proposal concerning
classification in grade A 4 resulted from an error in the             — uphold the application and thus declare null and void
Swedish version of the Official Journal of the European                     the contested decision,
 Communities .
                                                                      — order the Commission to pay the costs .
In support of his claims, the applicant makes the
following assertions :
                                                                      Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
— breach of the principle of the protection of legitimate             EPAC, Empresa para a Agro-Alimentagao e Cereais, SA, a
     expectations, in that he was at all times persuaded to           limited liability company governed by Portuguese law,
     apply for a grade A 4 post and could not reasonably              whose capital is exclusively public, challenges the interim
     have detected the error which the defendant admits               measure of 30 April 1997 whereby the Commission of the
     having committed ,                                               European Communities ordered the Portuguese State to
                                                                      ' suspend immediately the State guarantee granted to EPAC
                                                                      — Empresa para a Agro-Alimenta^ao e Cereais'. The
 — the existence in the present case of a manifest error of           object of EPAC, as a public undertaking, consists in
     assessment, inasmuch as classification in grade A 5               'ensuring the supply of cereals and seed, taking into
     would not have taken into account the exceptional                account the protection of production, consumption
     qualifications which he possesses in the field of                requirements and the overriding interests of the domestic
     revenue law. Indeed, upon being recruited, the                   economy', activities and obligations which it performed as
     applicant understood the Commission to say that it                a monopoly.
     wished to engage him on account of his exceptional
     experience . It could therefore be maintained that the
     specific needs of the service required the engagement            The applicant claims that it is going through financial
     of a staff member with particular qualifications,                 difficulties as a result of circumstances attributable to acts
                                                                       or omissions of the State which the latter had the duty to
                                                                       make good in the context of an appropriate economic and
                                                                       financial restructuring.
 — failure to observe the duty to have regard for the
     welfare and interests of officials, in that, by refusing to
     take account of the notice of vacancy published in                Among the causes which led to that situation, the
     the Swedish version of the Official Journal of the                applicant cites :
     European Communities, which constitutes an official ,
     public act binding on the Commission, and by
     refusing, moreover, to take into account the                       1 . the liberalization of the trade in cereals brought about
     exceptional nature of his qualifications, the                           by accession to the Community;
     Commission disregarded his interests .
                                                                        2 . the failure of the only shareholder to provide proper
                                                                             and timeous financial support;