Commission of the European Communities v Koninklijke FrieslandCampina NV.
Date: 2009-09-17
48. In relation to the first condition set out therein, it is settled case-law that, for a person to be directly concerned by a Community measure, that measure must directly affect the legal situation of the individual and leave no discretion to its addressees who are entrusted with the task of implementing it, such implementation being purely automatic and resulting from Community rules without the application of other intermediate rules (Case C‑386/96 P Dreyfus v Commission [1998] ECR I‑2309, paragraph 43 and the case‑law cited).
49. In the present case, as the Court of First Instance held in paragraph 94 of the judgment under appeal, it is clear from Article 2 of the contested decision that the Netherlands Authorities were obliged, without having any discretion whatsoever in the matter, to reject any pending request for first GFA authorisation, as the undertakings which were not beneficiaries of the GFA scheme at the time of the 11 July 2001 decision could not benefit from the transitional scheme.
51. As regards the second condition set out in Article 230 EC, it should be borne in mind that the fact that a disputed provision is, by its nature and scope, a provision of general application inasmuch as it applies to the traders concerned in general, does not of itself prevent it being of individual concern to some ( Belgium and Forum 187 v Commission , paragraph 58 and the case‑law cited).
52. However, natural or legal persons may claim that a contested provision is of individual concern to them only if it affects them by reason of certain attributes which are peculiar to them or by reason of circumstances in which they are differentiated from all other persons ( Belgium and Forum 187 v Commission , paragraph 59).
53. An undertaking cannot, in principle, contest a Commission decision prohibiting a sectoral aid scheme if it is concerned by that decision solely by virtue of belonging to the sector in question and being a potential beneficiary of the scheme. Such a decision is, vis-à-vis that undertaking, a measure of general application covering situations which are determined objectively and entails legal effects for a class of persons envisaged in a general and abstract manner (Joined Cases 67/85, 68/85 and 70/85 Kwekeriij van der Kooy and Others v Commission [1988] ECR 219, paragraph 15; Case C‑6/92 Federmineraria and Others v Commission [1993] ECR I‑6357, paragraph 14; and Joined Cases C‑15/98 and C‑105/99 Italy and Sardegna Lines v Commission [2000] ECR I‑8855, paragraph 33).
54. By contrast, the Court has held that, where a contested measure affects a group of persons who were identified or identifiable when that measure was adopted by reason of criteria specific to the members of the group, those persons might be individually concerned by that measure inasmuch as they form part of a limited class of traders (see Case 11/82 Piraiki-Patraiki and Others  v Commission  [1985] ECR 207, paragraph 31; Case C-152/88 Sofrimport  v Commission  [1990] ECR I‑2477, paragraph 11; and Belgium and Forum 187 v Commission , paragraph 60).
63. According to settled case‑law, for an applicant to have an interest in bringing proceedings in the light of the subject‑matter of the action,  that action must be capable, through its outcome, of procuring an advantage to the party which brought it (see, to that effect, Case C‑50/00 P Unión de Pequeños Agricultores v Council [2002] ECR I‑6677, paragraph 23; Case C‑277/01 P Parliament v Samper [2003] ECR I‑3019, paragraphs 30 and 31; order of 5 March 2009 in Case C‑183/08 P Commission v Provincia di Imperia , paragraph 19 and the case‑law cited).
65. Thus, on the date on which it brought its action before the Court of First Instance, KFC had a vested and present interest in bringing proceedings against the contested decision, in so far as, in the event that the contested decision were annulled, its request for first GFA authorisation would be considered, with the result that KFC could join that scheme if it were to fulfil the aforementioned criteria. As the Court of First Instance correctly held in paragraphs 59 and 66 of the judgment under appeal, that fact, on its own, was sufficient to procure an ‘advantage’ to KFC for the purposes of the case‑law mentioned in paragraph 63 of this judgment.
84. The Court has repeatedly held that the right to rely on the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations extends to any person in a situation where a Community institution has caused him to entertain expectations which are justified by precise assurances provided to him. However, if a prudent and alert economic operator could have foreseen the adoption of a Community measure likely to affect his interests, he cannot plead that principle if the measure is adopted (see, to that effect, Belgium and Forum 187 v Commission , paragraph 147 and the case‑law cited).
85. Furthermore, even if the European Community had first created a situation capable of giving rise to legitimate expectations, an overriding public interest may preclude transitional measures from being adopted in respect of situations which arose before the new rules came into force but which are still subject to change ( Belgium and Forum 187 v Commission , paragraph 148 and the case‑law cited).
100. It is settled case‑law that a breach of the general Community law principle of equal treatment arises through the application of different rules to comparable situations or the application of the same rule to different situations (see, inter alia, Case C‑390/96 Lease Plan [1998] ECR I‑2553, paragraph 34, and Case C‑156/98 Germany v Commission [2000] ECR I‑6857, paragraph 84).