CELEX: C1999/071/05
Language: en
Date: 1999-03-13 00:00:00
Title: Appeal brought on 11 December 1998 by Eugénio Branco, Lda against the judgment delivered on 15 September 1998 by the Third Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in Case T-142/97 between Eugénio Branco, Lda and the Commission of the European Communities (Case C-453/98 P)

13.3.1999             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                     C 71/3
The Court manifestly lacks jurisdiction to reply to the              Appeal brought on 11 December 1998 by EugeÂnio
reference for a preliminary ruling made by the Oberlan-              Branco, Lda against the judgment delivered on
desgericht Köln by order of 8 May 1998.                              15 September 1998 by the Third Chamber of the Court
                                                                     of First Instance of the European Communities in Case
                                                                     T-142/97 between EugeÂnio Branco, Lda and the
(1) OJ C 234, 25.7.1998.
                                                                              Commission of the European Communities
                                                                                           (Case C-453/98 P)
                                                                                             (1999/C 71/05)
                  ORDER OF THE COURT                                 An appeal against the judgment delivered on 15 September
                                                                     1998 by the Third Chamber of the Court of First Instance
                        (First Chamber)
                                                                     of the European Communities in Case T-142/97 between
                     of 19 November 1998                             EugeÂnio Branco Lda and the Commission of the European
                                                                     Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of
in Case C-149/98 P: Anne-Marie Toller v Commission of                the European Communities on 11 December 1998 by
                 the European Communities (1)                        EugeÂnio Branco Lda, represented by Bolota Belchior, of
    (Appeal clearly inadmissible and clearly unfounded)              the Vila Nova de Gaia Bar, with an address for service in
                                                                     Luxembourg at the Chambers of Jacques Schroeder, 6 Rue
                         (1999/C 71/04)                              Heine.
                (Language of the case: French)                       The appellant claims that the Court should:
  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be       Ð quash the judgment of the Court of First Instance
          published in the European Court Reports)                       under appeal;
In Case C-149/98 P: Anne-Marie Toller, a former official             Ð uphold all the claims made at first instance; and
of the Commission of the European Communities, residing
in Brussels, represented by Benoît Lombart and Eric
Boigelot, both of the Brussels Bar, with an address for              Ð order the Commission to pay the costs.
service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Louis Schiltz,
2 Rue du Fort Rheinsheim Ð appeal against the judgment
of the Court of First Instance of the European                       Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Communities (Fourth Chamber) of 19 February 1998 in
Case T-142/96 Toller v Commission [1998] ECR-SC
II-179, seeking to have that judgment set aside, the other           Ð Failure to comply with and infringement of Article 5(4)
party to the proceedings being the Commission of the                     of Regulation (EEC) No 2950/83 (1): Paragraphs 47
European Communities, represented by Julian Currall,                     and 49 of the judgment under appeal constitute an
Legal Adviser, and Christine Berardis-Kayser, of its Legal               error of assessment by the lower court. It is not
Service, acting as Agents, assisted by Denis Waelbroeck Ð                factually correct to claim that the InspeccËaÄo Geral de
the Court (First Chamber), composed of D. A. O. Edward,                  FinancËas (General Tax Inspectorate) audited the
acting for the President of the First Chamber, L. Sevón                  appellant's file at the request of the DAFSE, that, at
(Rapporteur) and M. Wathelet, Judges; Advocate General:                  the material time, it was empowered to conduct
D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer; Registrar: R. Grass, made an                     investigations into ESF projects or that it found
order on 19 November 1998, the operative part of which                   irregularities' not previously detected by the DAFSE.
is as follows:
                                                                     Ð Breach of the principles of protection of legitimate
(1) The appeal is dismissed;                                             expectations and legal certainty: The appellant
                                                                         contests the judgment under appeal inasmuch as it
                                                                         regards the period of two years (between 12 January
(2) Mrs Anne-Marie Toller's application for legal aid is                 1995 and 16 December 1996) as a reasonable period
     dismissed;                                                          for adopting the contested decision. The fact that the
                                                                         Court of First Instance did not set out its views, in
                                                                         Case T-85/94 (2), on the legality of the reduction in the
(3) Mrs Anne-Marie Toller is ordered to pay the costs.                   assistance but ruled only that the decision at issue did
                                                                         not contain a statement of reasons is not such as to
(1) OJ C 184, 13.6.1998.                                                 prevent giving rise to and reinforcing legitimate
                                                                         expectations on the part of the appellant. Indeed, since
                                                                         the final payment claim was certified by the DAFSE
                                                                         and the Commission's decision against such
 ---pagebreak--- C 71/4                 EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                  13.3.1999
     certification was annulled, this could only give rise to        on 15 December 1998 by the Commission of the
     the legitimate expectation on the part of the appellant         European Communities, represented by Dimitrios
     that the Commission would endorse the DAFSE's                   Goulousis, Legal Adviser, and Antonio Aresu, of its Legal
     certification                                                   Service, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the
                                                                     office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service,
                                                                     Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
Ð Misappraisal of the facts
(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2950/83 of 17 October 1983 on        The Commission claims that the Court should:
    the implementation of Decision 83/516/EEC on the tasks of
    the European Social Fund (OJ L 289, 20.10.1983, p. 1).
(2) Case T-85/94 Branco v Commission [1995] ECR II-45.
                                                                     Ð declare that, by failing to bring into force and to
                                                                         communicate to the Commission within the time-limit
                                                                         laid down the laws, regulations and administrative
                                                                         provisions necessary to comply fully with Council
                                                                         Directive 96/97/EC (1) of 20 December 1996 amending
                                                                         Directive 86/378/EEC on the implementation of the
                                                                         principle of equal treatment for men and women in
Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tampereen
                                                                         occupational social security schemes, the Hellenic
Käräjäoikeus by judgment of that court of 31 March 1998
                                                                         Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the
in the case of Finnish State/Tullihallitus v Kaupo Salumets
                                                                         EC Treaty;
                            and Others
                        (Case C-455/98)
                         (1999/C 71/06)                              Ð order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the               Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
European Communities by a judgment of the Tampereen
Käräjäoikeus (Tampere District Court) of 31 March 1998,
which was received at the Court Registry on 14 December
                                                                     The Member States are required by the binding character
1998, for a preliminary ruling in the case of Finnish                of the third paragraph of Article 189 and of Article 5 of
State/Tullihallitus v Kaupo Salumets and Others on the               the EC Treaty to adopt the measures needed to transpose
following question:
                                                                     directives into national law before the expiry of the period
                                                                     laid down for that purpose and to communicate those
                                                                     measures immediately to the Commission. That period
Are the European Community tax directives Council                    expired on 1 July 1997 without the Hellenic Republic
Directive 92/12/EEC (1), Council Directive 92/83/EEC (2)             having communicated to the Commission the provisions
and Council Directive 77/388/EEC (3) and the customs                 transposing the directive at issue into national law.
code Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (4) to be
interpreted as meaning that the provisions concerning tax
liability and customs debts apply to the smuggling of                (1) OJ L 46, 17.2.1997, p. 20.
liquor?
(1) OJ  L 76, 23.3.1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ  L 316, 31.10.1992, p. 21.
(3) OJ  L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1.
(4) OJ  L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1.
                                                                     Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Verwaltungs-
                                                                     gerichtshof, Vienna, by order of that court of
                                                                     26 November 1998 in the case of Sutterlüty Gesellschaft
                                                                     mbH & Co against the Vorarlberg Landesregierung,
                                                                     with the following parties joined in the proceedings: the
                                                                     town of Dornbirn, the municipality of Bludesch, the
Action brought on 15 December 1998 by the Commission                  municipality of Rankweil and the municipality of Lochau
of the European Communities against the Hellenic
                             Republic                                                       (Case C-460/98)
                        (Case C-457/98)                                                      (1999/C 71/08)
                         (1999/C 71/07)
                                                                     Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
An action against the Hellenic Republic was brought                  European Communities by order of the Verwaltungs-
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities              gerichtshof, Vienna (Higher Administrative Court, Vienna)