Case T‑226/14

European Commission

v

McCarron Poultry Ltd

(Arbitration clause — Fifth Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (1998-2002) — Contract relating to ‘Energy, environment and sustainable development’ — Termination of the contract — Reimbursement of part of the amount advanced — Default interest — Procedure by default)

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber, Extended Composition), 25 May 2016

Judicial proceedings — Amendments to the rules of procedure — Immediate application in the absence of transitional provisions — Rules on the adjudication of an applicant’s claims in the context of a default procedure

(Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 123)

The provisions of new Rules of Procedure are, as procedural provisions, of immediate application from the date of their entry into force and apply, consequently, to all proceedings pending at the time when they enter into force, subject in particular to transitional provisions. In that regard, in relation to Article 123 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court concerning default procedure where a defence has not been lodged, where no transitional provision expressly refers to the said Article 123, that provision must be regarded as being of immediate application from the entry into force of the Rules of Procedure on 1 July 2015.

Moreover, even supposing the rules applicable to judgment by default in favour of the applicant in the context of a procedure by default could be regarded as being partly a matter of substantive law to the extent that they directly affect the interests of the parties to the dispute, that would be irrelevant. As the situation arising from failure to lodge a defence and from the submission of an application for judgment by default in favour of the applicant definitively arises only at the time when the Court rules on that application, the rules in question apply immediately.

(see paras 35-38)