Commission of the European Communities v Cantina sociale di Dolianova Soc. coop. arl and Others.
Date: 2008-07-17
54. The five-year limitation period referred to in that provision cannot begin to run until all the requirements governing the obligation to provide compensation for damage are satisfied and, in particular, until the damage to be made good has materialised. Therefore, in cases where, as in this instance, the liability of the Community has its origin in a legislative measure, that period of limitation does not begin until the damaging effects of that measure have arisen and, therefore, until the time at which the persons concerned were bound to have suffered certain damage (see, in particular, Joined Cases 256/80, 257/80, 265/80, 267/80 and 5/81 Birra Wührer and Others  v Council and Commission  [1982] ECR 85, paragraph 10, and Case C-282/05 P Holcim (Deutschland)  v Commission  [2007] ECR I‑2941, paragraph 29).
59. The conditions to which the obligation to make good the damage referred to in the second paragraph of Article 288 EC is subject, and, therefore, the rules on limitation periods which govern actions for compensation in respect of that damage may be based only on strictly objective criteria. If it were otherwise, there would be a risk of undermining the principle of legal certainty on which the rules on limitations periods specifically rely and which require that legal rules be clear and precise in order that interested parties can ascertain their position in situations and legal relationships governed by Community law (see, inter alia, Case C-63/93 Duff and Others  [1996] ECR I-569, paragraph 20).
60. Furthermore, it must be observed that preventing the limitation period for proceedings against the Community for non-contractual liability from starting to run as long as the party who has allegedly been harmed is not personally convinced that he has suffered damage has the result that the point in time at which those proceedings become time-barred varies according to the individual perception that each party may have as to the reality of the damage, something which is at variance with the requirement of legal certainty necessary for the application of limitation periods.
61. In that connection, it must also be observed that the Court has rejected the argument that the limitation period referred to in Article 46 of the Statute of the Court of Justice cannot begin to run until the victim has specific and detailed knowledge of the facts of the case, since knowledge of the facts is not one of the conditions which must be met in order for the limitation period to begin running (see order in Autosalone Ispra dei Fratelli Rossi  v Commission , paragraph 31). The subjective appraisal of the reality of the damage cannot therefore be taken into consideration in order to determine the moment at which the limitation period begins in proceedings being brought against the Community for non-contractual liability.
62. It follows that, in the judgment under appeal, the Court of First Instance was unable to establish whether the damage caused to the Cantine was certain and therefore it could not determine the time at which the limitation period for their action for compensation began to run by relying on the perception of the Cantine with regard to the harmful effects of Regulation No 2499/82. The Court of First Instance ought, on the contrary, to have based itself for that purpose on exclusively objective criteria.
63. It is on precisely such criteria that the Court has already relied for the purpose of determining the date on which the limitation period provided for in Article 46 of the Statute of the Court of Justice begins to run. As is clear from paragraph 33 of Holcim (Deutschland)  v Commission , the Court has held that that limitation period begins to run from the moment at which the financial loss suffered by the victim actually materialised. It follows therefore that the start of that period is linked to the objective loss actually caused to the assets of the party which claims to have suffered harm.
68. It should also be added that the fact that the Cantine were interveners in the proceedings relating to the security brought by DAI before the Italian courts did not prevent them from bringing parallel proceedings to establish liability before the Court of Justice under Article 235 EC. That provision specifically confers exclusive jurisdiction on the Community Courts to hear actions for compensation under the second paragraph of Article 288 EC brought against the Community (see, inter alia, Joined Cases 106/87 to 120/87 Asteris and Others  [1988] ECR 5515, paragraph 15).