OZ v European Investment Bank.
Date: 2019-04-04
33


In that regard, it should be borne in mind that, according to settled case-law, it follows from, inter alia, Article 168(1)(d) and Article 169(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice that an appeal must indicate precisely the contested elements of the decision which the appellant seeks to have set aside and the legal arguments specifically advanced in support of the appeal. An appeal which merely repeats or reproduces verbatim the pleas in law and arguments previously submitted to the General Court does not satisfy the requirements relating to the duty to state reasons under those provisions (see, to that effect, judgment of 17 Mary 2017, Portugal v Commission, C‑338/16 P, EU:C:2017:382, paragraph 19 and the case-law cited, and judgment of 20 December 2017, Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia and Retegal v Commission, C‑70/16 P, EU:C:2017:1002, paragraph 48 and the case-law cited).
34


However, provided that the appellant challenges the interpretation or application of EU law by the General Court, the points of law examined at first instance may be discussed again in the course of an appeal. Indeed, if an appellant could not thus base his appeal on pleas in law and arguments already relied on before the General Court, an appeal would be deprived of part of its purpose (judgment of 17 May 2017, Portugal v Commission, C‑338/16 P, EU:C:2017:382, paragraph 20 and the case-law cited).
48


It is clear that neither the Investigation Panel, an ad hoc body the members of which are appointed by the President of the EIB and make non-binding recommendations at the end of an investigation, nor the President of the EIB fulfil the criteria established by the Court in its case-law for the purpose of defining a ‘tribunal’ within the meaning of Article 47 of the Charter (see, inter alia, regarding the definition of ‘tribunal’, judgment of 27 February 2018, Associação Sindical dos Juízes Portugueses, C‑64/16, EU:C:2018:117, paragraph 38 and the case-law cited). Therefore, they cannot be regarded, either individually or collectively, as a ‘tribunal previously established by law’ within the meaning of Article 47 of the Charter.
53


More specifically, the right to be heard guarantees every person the opportunity to make known his views effectively during an administrative procedure and before the adoption of any decision liable to affect his interests adversely (see, inter alia, judgments of 22 November 2012, M., C‑277/11, EU:C:2012:744, paragraph 87, and of 11 December 2014, Boudjlida, C‑249/13, EU:C:2014:2431, paragraph 36).
76


It should be borne in mind that, according to settled case-law, an infringement of the rights of the defence, in particular the right to be heard, results in the annulment of the decision taken at the end of a procedure only if, had it not been for such an irregularity, the outcome of the procedure might have been different (judgments of 10 September 2013, G. and R., C‑383/13 PPU, EU:C:2013:533, paragraph 38, and of 3 July 2014, Kamino International Logistics and Datema Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, C‑129/13 and C‑130/13, EU:C:2014:2041, paragraph 79).
81


The heads of claim seeking compensation for such non-material harm are therefore devoid of purpose and there is no need to adjudicate on them (see, to that effect, judgment of 9 July 1987, Hochbaum and Rawes v Commission, 44/85, 77/85, 294/85 and 295/85, EU:C:1987:348, paragraph 22).