CELEX: C1999/366/36
Language: en
Date: 1999-12-18 00:00:00
Title: Case C-403/99: Action brought on 20 October 1999 by the Italian Republic against the Commission of the European Communities

C 366/22               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                     18.12.1999
Action brought on 20 October 1999 by the Italian Repub-                       The contested regulation is also vitiated inasmuch as it
lic against the Commission of the European Communities                        infringes Article 40 of the EC Treaty (now, after amend-
                                                                              ment, Article 34 EC), which prohibits any discrimination
                                                                              between producers, and is in breach of the principle of
                         (Case C-403/99)
                                                                              equal treatment.
                         (1999/C 366/36)
                                                                         (1) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1639/1999 of 26 July 1999
                                                                             fixing the maximum compensatory aid resulting from the rates
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                    for the conversion of the euro into national currency units and
ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European                 the exchange rates applicable on 1 July 1999, OJ 1999 L 194,
Communities on 20 October 1999 by the Italian Republic,                      p. 33.
                                                                         (2) OJ 1998 L 349, p. 1.
represented by Umberto Leanza, acting as Agent, assisted by              (3) OJ 1998 L 349, p. 48.
Danilo Del Gaizo, Avvocato dello Stato, with an address                  (4) OJ 1999 L 98, p. 8.
for service in Luxembourg at the Italian Embassy, 5 Rue
Marie-Adélaïde.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
— annul the contested regulation (1);
— order the Commission to pay the costs.                                 Action brought on 22 October 1999 by the Commission
                                                                         of the European Communities against the Federal Repub-
                                                                                                     lic of Germany
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                                    (Case C-406/99)
(1) The Commission established a measure of general appli-
     cation of the provision laid down by the Council in
     Article 5 of Regulation No 2799/98 (2), applicable to all                                      (1999/C 366/37)
     direct aid affected by the freezing of the conversion rates,
     which did not take into consideration the various operative         An action against the Federal Republic of Germany was
     events giving rise to the entitlement to aid.                       brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communi-
                                                                         ties on 22 October 1999 by the Commission of the European
     In the contested regulation the Commission, without                 Communities, represented by Götz zur Hausen, Legal Adviser,
     giving the slightest reason for its decision, fixed the level       acting as Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg at
     of direct aid where the date of the operative event was             the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service,
     1 July 1999, and did not increase it by applying the                Wagner Centre C 254, Kirchberg.
     weighting provided for in Article 6 of Regulation
     No 2813/98 (3).
                                                                         The applicant claims that the Court should:
     Determination of the maximum amounts of the aid in
     question is contrary to the general determination adopted           (1) declare that, by failing to adopt within the prescribed
     by the Commission in Article 6 of Regulation No 2813/98                  time-limit the measures necessary in order to comply with
     and is vitiated by the fact that it infringes the aforemen-              Directive 96/56/EC (1) of the European Parliament and
     tioned Article.                                                          the Council of 3 September 1996 amending Directive
                                                                              67/548/EEC on the approximation of laws, regulations
     Finally, the reasons which led the Commission to adopt                   and administrative provisions relating to the classification,
     the contested provision are not set out at all in the                    packaging and labelling of dangerous substances, the
     preamble to the contested regulation which thus also                     Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its
     infringes Article 253 EC and is in breach of essential                   obligations under the EC Treaty;
     procedural requirements inasmuch as it is vitiated by a
     lack of a statement of reasons and misuse of powers.                (2) order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs.
(2) The unlawfulness of the contested regulation is even more            The pleas in law and main arguments are the same as in Case
     evident in view of the fact that, although the intention had        C-386/992 (2); the time-limit laid down in Article 2 of the
     been to fix, by way of Regulation No 755/99 (4), of                 directive expired on 1 June 1998.
     12 April 1999, the maximum amounts of direct aid in
     respect of which the dates of the relevant operative events
     were 1 and 3 January 1999, the Commission had instead               (1) OJ L 236 of 18.9.1996, p. 35.
     applied the increase provided for by Article 6 of Regulation        (2) See p. 20 of this Official Journal.
     No 2813/98. The different treatment afforded to aid the
     date of whose operative event was 1 July 1999 is not
     justified in any way.