Order of the Court of First Instance of 12 December 2007 - Atlantic Container Line and Others v Commission
(Enforcement of a judgment of the Court of First Instance - Repayment of the costs of bank guarantees provided in order to defer payment of a fine imposed by the Commission and subsequently annulled by the Court of First Instance - Action for annulment and damages - Non-contractual liability of the Community - No direct causal link between the allegedly unlawful conduct of the institution and the damage claimed)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Atlantic Container Line AB (Göteborg, Sweden); Transportación Marítima Mexicana SA de CV (Mexico, Mexico); Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd (Seoul, South Korea); Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. Ltd (Seoul); Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA (Geneva, Switzerland); Neptune Orient Lines Ltd (Singapore, Singapore); Orient Overseas Container Line (UK) Ltd (Suffolk, United Kingdom); P & O Nedlloyd Container Line Ltd (London, United Kingdom); Sea-Land Service, Inc. (Jacksonville, Florida, United States) (represented initially by J. Pheasant, M. Levitt and K. Nicholson, and subsequently by M. Levitt and K. Nicholson, solicitors)
Defendant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by P. Oliver, acting as Agent)
Re:
Application, first, for annulment of the Commission letter of 6 January 2004 refusing to repay the costs of the bank guarantees which the applicants entered into following the imposition of fines by Commission Decision 1999/243/EC of 16 September 1998 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Articles 85 and 86 of the EC Treaty (now Articles 81 EC and 82 EC) (Case No IV/35.134 - Trans Atlantic Conference Agreement) (OJ 1999 L 95, p. 1), annulled by judgment of the Court of First Instance of 30 September 2003 in Joined Cases T-191/98 and T-212/98 to T-214/98 Atlantic Container Line and Others v Commission [2003] ECR II-3275, and, second, for damages seeking repayment of the costs of the bank guarantees.
Operative part of the order
1. The action is dismissed.
2. The applicants are ordered to pay the costs.
____________1 - OJ C 118, 30.04.2004.