Z v European Parliament.
Date: 2001-11-27
21 In that regard, it should be recalled, first, that it is settled case-law that the time-limits laid down in Article 7 of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations are not mandatory but constitute rules of sound administration with the result that a failure to observe those time-limits may render the institution liable for any damage caused to those concerned, but cannot of itself affect the validity of a disciplinary sanction imposed after their expiry (see Van Eick v Commission, cited above, paragraphs 3 to 7, F. v Commission, cited above, paragraph 30, and M. v Council, cited above, paragraph 16).
24 As regards the application of the general principle of Community law that everyone is entitled to legal process within a reasonable period (see Case C-185/95 P Baustahlgewebe v Commission [1998] ECR I-8417, paragraph 21), it is clear from the case-law of both the Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights that the reasonableness of the length of proceedings is to be determined in the light of the circumstances specific to each case and, in particular, the importance of the case for the person concerned, its complexity and the conduct of the applicant and of the competent authorities (see Baustahlgewebe v Commission, cited above, paragraph 29, and the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of Erkner and Hofauer of 23 April 1987, Series A No 117, § 66; Kemmache of 27 November 1991, Series A No 218, § 60; Phocas v France of 23 April 1996, Reports 1996-II, p. 546, § 71, and Garyfallou AEBE v Greece of 27 September 1997, Reports 1997-V, p. 1821, § 39).
25 Furthermore, as regards the argument which the appellant derives from the case-law of the Court of Justice referred to in paragraph 20 above (Ferriera Valsabbia v Commission, paragraph 14, and Cockerill-Sambre v Commission, paragraph 10), that case-law is not relevant in this case. It concerns certain time-limits for bringing proceedings before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. Such time-limits are by their nature different from those laid down in Article 7 of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations and cannot therefore be compared with the latter.
33 In that regard, it should be pointed out that it follows from the first paragraph of Article 51 of the EC Statute of the Court of Justice and Article 112(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure that an appeal must indicate precisely the contested elements of the judgment which the Court is requested to set aside and the legal arguments in support of that request (see, inter alia, orders in Case C-303/96 P Bernardi v Parliament [1997] ECR I-1239, paragraph 37, and Case C-317/97 P Smanor and Others v Commission [1998] ECR I-4269, paragraph 20, and judgment in Case C-257/98 P Lucaccioni v Commission [1999] ECR I-5251, paragraph 61).
37 In that regard, it should be recalled that an appeal may be based only on grounds relating to the infringement of rules of law, to the exclusion of any appraisal of the facts. The Court of First Instance has exclusive jurisdiction, first, to establish the facts except where the substantive inaccuracy of its findings is apparent from the documents submitted to it and, second, to assess those facts. When the Court of First Instance has established or assessed the facts, the Court of Justice has jurisdiction under Article 225 EC to review the legal characterisation of those facts by the Court of First Instance and the inferences in law it has drawn from them (see, inter alia, Case C-136/92 P Commission v Brazzelli Lualdi and Others [1994] ECR I-1981, paragraphs 48 and 49, and Case C-284/98 P Parliament v Bieber [2000] ECR I-1527, paragraph 31).