CELEX: C1997/040/47
Language: en
Date: 1997-02-08 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 20 September 1996 by Mutual Aid Administration Services NV against Commission of the European Communities (Case T-151/96)

8 . 2 . 97            1 hN 1                Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 40/ 19
   JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE                              Action brought on 20 September 1996 by Mutual Aid
                                                                        Administration Services NV against Commission of the
                        of 12 December 1996
                                                                                            European Communities
in       Case   T-3 80/94 :     Association  Internationale   des                               ( Case T-151 /96 )
Utilisateurs de Fils de Filaments Artificiels et Synthétiques                                      ( 97/C 40/47 )
et de Soie Naturelle (AIUFFASS ) v. Commission of the
                    European Communities (')
                                                                                         (Language of the case: Dutch)
 (Action for annulment — State aid — Textiles — Trade
association — Admissibility — Manifest error of
                  assessment — Excess capacity)                         An action against the Commission of the European
                                                                        Communities was brought before the Court of First
                             ( 97/C 40/46 )                             Instance of the European Communities on 20 September
                                                                        1996 by Mutual Aid Administration Services NV, of
                                                                        Antwerp ( Belgium ), represented by J. Tritsmans, of the
                                                                        Antwerp Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg
                  (Language of the case: French)                        at the Chambers of R. Faltz, 6 Rue Heinrich Heine .
                                                                        The applicant claims that the Court should :
In       Case   T-380/94 :      Association  Internationale   des
Utilisateurs de Fils de Filaments Artificiels et Synthetiques
et de Soie Naturelle ( AIUFFASS ), established at Ghent                 — annul the contested decision, a copy of which is
( Belgium ) and Apparel, Knitting & Textiles Alliance                        included among the documents annexed to the present
( AKT ), established in London , represented by Michel                       application , and accordingly rule that the applicant is
Waelbroeck and Jules Stuyck, of the Brussels Bar, with an                    not obliged to pay dispatch costs to the Georgian
address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of                         authorities,
Ernest Arendt, 8— 10 Rue Mathias Hardt v. Commission
of the European Communities, (Agents: initially Jean-Paul               — order the Commission of the European Communities
Keppenne and Ben Smulders, subsequently Xavier Lewis                        to pay to the applicant the sum of US $ 6 014,02, plus
and Ben Smulders ), supported by United Kingdom of                           interest calculated on the basis of the current statutory
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ( Agents: Lindsey                        interest rate in Belgium of 7% per annum as from
Nicoll and, at the hearing, Richard Plender QC) — for                        1 September 1996 ,
annulment of the Commission decision of 31 May 1994 ,
reproduced in Commission Notice 94/C 271 /06 ,
authorizing the Government of the United Kingdom under                  — order the Commission to pay the costs of the
Article 92 ( 3 ) ( a ) and ( c ) of the EC Treaty to grant aid of            proceedings.
£ 61 million in favour of Hualon Corporation for the
setting up of a textile producing plant in Northern Ireland
( OJ No C 271 , 29 . 9 . 1994, p. 5 ) — the Court of First              Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Instance ( Fifth Chamber), composed of: R. Garcia­
Valdecasas, President, K. Lenaerts , V. Tilli , J. Azizi and M.
Moura Ramos, Judges; J. Palacio-Gonzalez, Administrator,                On 12 March 1996 , the Commission adopted Regulation
gave a judgment on 12 December 1996 , the operative part                ( EC ) No 449/96 on the transport for the free supply to
of which is as follows :                                                Armenia and Azerbaijan of fruit juice, fruit jams and
                                                                        common wheat flour.
                                                                        Transport of one of the consignments via Georgia was
1 . The application is dismissed.                                       awarded to the applicant by a Commission Decision of
                                                                        27 March 1996 . A ten-point annex was appended to the
                                                                        document awarding the contract, containing extracts from
                                                                        the Agreement between the European Community and the
2 . The applicants are ordered to bear their own costs and              Georgian authorities . Following delivery, the Commission
       jointly and severally to pay the Commission 's costs.            sent an invoice to the applicant relating, inter alia, to
                                                                        dispatch costs payable to the Georgian authorities . The
                                                                        applicant argues against this in that the dispatch rate is
                                                                        nowhere mentioned, not even in the document awarding
3 . The United Kingdom is ordered to bear its own costs .               the contract or in the memorandum concerning the above
                                                                        Agreement. The applicant accordingly submits that no
                                                                        dispatch costs need be paid to the Georgian authorities
(') OJ No C 380, 31 . 12 . 1994 .                                       and it contests the Commission decision requiring it to
                                                                        pay those costs .