DIR International Film Srl, Nostradamus Enterprises Ltd, Union PN Srl, United International Pictures BV, United International Pictures AB, United International Pictures APS, United International Pictures A/S, United International Pictures EPE, United International Pictures OY and United International Pictures y Cía SRC v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 2000-01-27
25 Those guidelines did not contain any definition of the term `different distributors'.
26 According to consistent case-law, the meaning and scope of terms for which Community law provides no definition must be determined by considering the general context in which they are used and their usual meaning in everyday language (see, in particular, Case 349/85 Denmark v Commission [1988] ECR 169, paragraph 9).
28 As regards, secondly, the power to reject funding applications from structures that are potentially incompatible with the competition rules, it should be pointed out that, contrary to what the appellants maintain, the guidelines do not restrict the power to reject eligible funding applications solely to cases in which EFDO learns, directly or indirectly, of any fact giving reason to believe that the loan will not or cannot be duly repaid. All point VI.3 of the guidelines does is to provide that, in such a situation, EFDO may reject applications made to it without giving reasons.
38 In reviewing the legality of acts under Article 173 of the Treaty, the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance have jurisdiction in actions brought on grounds of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedural requirement, infringement of the Treaty or of any rule of law relating to its application, or misuse of powers. Article 174 of the EC Treaty (now Article 231 EC) provides that, if the action is well founded, the act concerned must be declared void.  The Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance cannot under any circumstances substitute their own reasoning for that of the author of the contested act.
42 Although, in proceedings for annulment, the Court of First Instance may be led to interpret the reasoning of the contested measure in a manner which differs from that of its author, and even, in certain circumstances, to reject the latter's formal statement of reasons, it cannot do so where there is no material factor to justify such a course of action.
48 It must therefore be concluded that the content of the contested decision was distorted.  It was precisely that distortion which enabled the Court of First Instance to set aside the interpretation put forward by the Commission, which insisted on the link that existed between the uncertain status of UIP in Europe and the risk that loans granted might not be capable of being repaid, even though that interpretation was inherent in the logic of point VI.3 of the guidelines, which, as indicated in paragraph 12 of the contested judgment, provided that applications might be rejected without stating [specific] reasons if EFDO learned that the loan would not or could not be duly repaid.
49 It follows that, by substituting its own reasoning for that set out in the contested decision, the Court of First Instance made an error of law.  The second plea must therefore be upheld and the contested judgment set aside.
Reference back to the Court of First Instance