Commission of the European Communities v Augusto Brazzelli Lualdi and others.
Date: 1994-06-01
35 However, this first plea in law is unfounded. The Court of Justice itself has had to distinguish default interest from compensatory interest, in particular in cases relating to the belated settlement of officials' remuneration (see the judgments in Case 158/79 Roumengous Carpentier v Commission [1985] ECR 39, paras 8 to 14; in Joined Cases 532, 534, 567, 600, 618, 660/79 and 543/79 Amesz and Others v Commission [1985] ECR 55, paras 11 to 17; in Case 737/79 Battaglia v Commission [1985] ECR 71, paras 6 to 13; in Case 174/83 Amman and Others v Council [1985] ECR 2133, para. 13; in Case 175/83 Culmsee and Others v CSE [1985] ECR 2149, para. 13 and Case 176/83 Allo and Others v Commission [1985] ECR 2155, para. 19); it held inter alia that because of matters of procedure peculiar to those cases the claims for compensatory interest were inadmissible while those relating to default interest were admissible but unfounded. In those circumstances it is not possible to hold that the distinction which the Court of First Instance drew has no basis in the case-law of the Court.
42 First of all, in stating at paragraph 35 of the judgment that the Court had consistently held that, in order for the applicants to be able to claim compensatory interest, they had to demonstrate fault on the part of the institution, the existence of certain and quantifiable damage and a causal link between the fault and the alleged damage, the Court of First Instance did not depart from the case-law of the Court. In the judgment in Case 111/86 Delauche v Commission [1987] ECR 5345, para. 30, the Court of Justice held that in a claim for damages brought by an official the Community could be held liable for damages only if a number of conditions were satisfied as regards the illegality of the allegedly wrongful act committed by the institutions, the actual harm suffered and the existence of a causal link between the act and the damage alleged to have been suffered. The reasoning of the Court of First Instance cannot, therefore, be considered to be insufficient.
47 In that respect it must be borne in mind that according to Article 168a of the EEC Treaty and the corresponding provisions of the ECSC and EAEC treaties there is a right of appeal on points of law only. That restriction is referred to in the first paragraph of Article 51 of the EEC Statute and the corresponding provisions of the ECSC and EAEC Statutes of the Court of Justice, which specify the grounds on which an appeal lies, namely lack of competence of the Court of First Instance, a breach of procedure before it which adversely affects the interests of the appellant and the infringement of Community law by the Court of First Instance.
48 It must also be borne in mind that the appeal may rely only on grounds relating to the infringement of rules of law, to the exclusion of any appraisal of the facts, and is therefore admissible only in so far as it is claimed that the decision of the Court of First Instance is incompatible with the rules of law the application of which it was called upon to ensure (see the judgments in Case C-283/90 P Vidranyi v Commission [1991] ECR I-4339, paras 11 to 13; in Case C-346/90 P F v Commission [1992] ECR I-2691, paras 6 and 7 and in Case C-53/92 P Hilti v Commission [1994] ECR I-0000, para. 10).
49 The Court of First Instance thus has exclusive jurisdiction to find the facts except where the substantive inaccuracy of its findings is apparent from the documents submitted to it. In the present case the findings of the Court of First Instance relating to the events which preceded the adoption of Regulation No 3294/88 (paragraph 11 of the judgment), which are not challenged, can no longer be questioned. The Court of First Instance has also exclusive jurisdiction to assess those facts. In the present case the same is true of its assessment that the transmission on 23 December 1985 by the Commission to the Council of the second proposal relating to weightings could have taken place more speedily so that the legislation could have been adopted as early as 1 January 1984 (paragraph 39 of the judgment). On the other hand, when the Court of First Instance has found or assessed facts, the Court of Justice has jurisdiction to exercise the review required of it by Article 168a of the EEC Treaty provided that the Court of First Instance has defined their legal nature and determined the legal consequences. In the present case that applies to the assessment by the Court of First Instance that the slowness of the preparatory procedure constituted a fault (paragraph 39 of the judgment).
53 In that respect it follows from the judgments in Case 174/83 Amman v Council [1986] ECR 2647, paras 19 and 20, in Case 175/83 Culmsee v ESC [1986] ECR 2667, paras 19 and 20, in Case 176/83 Allo v Commission [1986] ECR 2687, paras 19 and 20, in Case 233/83 Agostini v Commission [1986] ECR 2709, paras 19 and 20, in Case 247/83 Ambrosetti v Commission [1986] ECR 2729, paras 12 and 20 and in Case 264/83 Delhez v Commission [1986] ECR 2749, paras 20 and 21 that an obligation to pay default interest can arise only where the amount of the principal sum owed is certain or can at least be ascertained on the basis of established objective factors. The same judgments stated that the powers conferred on the Council by Article 65 of the Staff Regulations for adjusting the remuneration and pensions of officials and other servants and for fixing the weightings applicable to such remuneration and pensions involve the exercise of a discretion. No certainty exists as to the amount by which the remuneration and pensions will be adjusted or the manner in which the weightings will be fixed until the Council has exercised those powers and adopted the regulation.
57 In that respect it suffices to observe that this complaint was not made by the Commission before the Court of First Instance and is therefore inadmissible.
58 Pursuant to Article 48(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, no new plea in law may be introduced in the course of proceedings unless it is based on matters of law or fact which come to light in the course of the procedure.
59 To allow a party to put forward for the first time before the Court of Justice a plea in law which it has not raised before the Court of First Instance would be to allow it to bring before the Court, whose jurisdiction in appeals is limited, a case of wider ambit than that which came before the Court of First Instance. In an appeal the Court' s jurisdiction is thus confined to review of the findings of law on the pleas argued before the Court of First Instance.
66 The Court of Justice has no more jurisdiction, on principle, to examine the evidence which the Court of First Instance accepted in support of those facts than to find the facts themselves. Since the evidence was duly obtained and the rules and general principles of law relating to the burden of proof were observed, as also were the rules of procedure in relation to the taking of evidence, it is for the Court of First Instance alone to assess the value which should be attached to the items of evidence produced to it. The pleas in law seeking to criticize that assessment cannot be accepted by the Court. For the same reasons, once the Court of First Instance has found the existence of damage, it alone has jurisdiction to assess, within the confines of the claim, the most appropriate compensation.
81 That argument cannot be accepted. As has already been found at paragraph 66, it is for the Court of First Instance alone to assess, within the confines of the claim, the method and extent of compensation for the damage.