Press and Information Division

PRESS RELEASE NO 86/99

28 October 1999

Judgment in Case T-180/98

Cotrim v CEDEFOP

FIRST JUDGMENT DELIVERED BY SINGLE JUDGE AT COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

Single judge delivers first judgment in case relating to official of the European Communities only six weeks after hearing date. Length of procedure is significantly reduced.

On Thursday 28 October 1999, the first judgment was delivered by a single judge at the Court of First Instance of the European Communities.

[Background: According to Council Decision of 24 October 1988 establishing a Court of First Instance of the European Communities, the Court of First Instance is to sit in chambers of three or five judges or in plenary session. This decision was amended by Decision of 26 April 1999 which came into effect on 1 July 1999, thus enabling the Court of First Instance to sit "when constituted by a single judge" (OJ L 114 of 1 May 1999, p. 52). This amendment was considered to be necessary because of the increasing workload before the Court of First Instance.

In cases which do not raise any difficult questions of law or fact, which are of limited importance and which do not involve any other special circumstances, the Judge-Rapporteur, sitting as single judge may decide the following cases;

• cases concerning officials of the Communities;
• direct actions brought by natural or legal persons contesting decisions of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission or the ECB which are addressed to them or which are of direct and individual concern to them, as well as direct actions concerning the non-contractual liability of the Community, provided that those cases raise only questions already clarified by established case-law or form part of a series of cases in which the same relief is sought and of which one has already been finally decided;
• cases in which the Court of First Instance has jurisdiction to give judgment pursuant to an arbitration clause contained in a contract concluded by or on behalf of the Community.

Delegation to a single judge is not possible in certain cases, for example concerning the implementation of the rules:

• on competition and on control of concentrations;
• relating to aid granted by States;
• relating to measures to protect trade.]

The unanimous decision to delegate this case to a single judge was taken by the Chamber composed of three judges before which the case was pending and in accordance with the amended Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance (see Press Release 49/99). The judgment was delivered by a single judge only 6 weeks after the hearing date, and just under one year from the date on which the case was brought before the Court of First Instance. This marks a considerable acceleration in the procedure; the time scale for similar cases from the date of lodgment to judgment tends to be around eighteen months.

The case concerns an official of the European Communities. Ms Cotrim was formally a temporary agent at the CEDEFOP and is now a civil servant at the European Commission. She brought an action before the Court of First Instance seeking the annulment of a decision requiring her to pay back a salary allowance of 50 102BF (1252 EURO). The Court rejected her application.

NB: an appeal, limited to points of law, may be brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities against this decision of the Court of First Instance within two months of its notification.

This press release is an unofficial document for media use which does not bind the Court of First Instance. It is available in English and French.

For the full text of the judgment please consult our home page: Internet www.curia.eu.int at about 1500 hours today.

For further information please contact Fionnuala Connolly, tel: (352) 4303 3355 fax: (352) 4303 2731.