River Kwai International Food Industry Co. Ltd v Council of the European Union.
Date: 2019-03-28
The first ground of appeal alleges breach of the obligation to state reasons. River Kwai claims that, in the judgment under appeal, the General Court failed to rule on its claim that it should declare that the action before it was inadmissible. River Kwai states that, unlike the Council, which withdrew its challenge  to the action, in the course of proceedings, on the ground that it was inadmissible, it maintained its line of argument in that regard and submits, with reference to the judgments of 11 July 1990, Neotype Techmashexport v Commission and Council (C‑305/86 and C‑160/87, EU:C:1990:295, paragraphs 17 and 18), and of 9 June 2016, Growth Energy and Renewable Fuels Association v Council (T‑276/13, EU:T:2016:340, paragraph 157), that the General Court was required to address that claim on grounds of public policy. By failing to state why it did not address the plea alleging that the action was inadmissible, the General Court infringed River Kwai’s rights of defence.
According to settled case-law, the obligation incumbent on the General Court under Article 36 and the first paragraph of Article 53 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union to state reasons for its judgments does not require the General Court to provide an account that follows exhaustively and one by one all the arguments put forward by the parties to the case. The reasoning may therefore be implicit, on condition that it enables the persons concerned to know why the measures in question were taken and provides the Court of Justice with sufficient material for it to exercise its power of review (judgments of 7 January 2004, Aalborg Portland and Others v Commission, C‑204/00 P,  C‑205/00 P,  C‑211/00 P,  C‑213/00 P,  C‑217/00 P and C‑219/00 P, EU:C:2004:6, paragraph 372, and of 14 June 2016, Commission v McBride and Others, C‑361/14 P, EU:C:2016:434, paragraph 61).
However, it is important to note that if the grounds of a decision of the General Court contain an error in law as regards the requirement to state reasons but its operative part is shown to be well founded on other legal grounds, such an infringement is not capable of bringing about the annulment of that judgment, and the relevant grounds must be replaced (see, to that effect, judgment of 12 February 2015, Commission v IPK International, C‑336/13 P, EU:C:2015:83, paragraphs 53 and 64 and the case-law cited).
It must be borne in mind that intervention is limited to supporting, in whole or in part, the form of order sought by one of the main parties. It is ancillary to the main proceedings. An intervener therefore has no standing to raise a plea alleging that an action is inadmissible where such a plea is not set out in the form of order sought by the defendant (judgment of 1 July 2008, Chronopost v UFEX and Others, C‑341/06 P and C‑342/06 P, EU:C:2008:375, paragraph 67 and the case-law cited).
It follows that the General Court’s failure to rule on River Kwai’s head of claim concerning the admissibility of that action was of no consequence as regards the rights of the latter (see, to that effect, judgment of 1 July 2008, Chronopost v UFEX and Others, C‑341/06 P and C‑342/06 P, EU:C:2008:375, paragraph 69).