Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 20 January 2010 - Sungro and Others v Council and Commission

(Joined Cases T-252/07, T-271/07, T-272/07) ¹

(Non-contractual liability - Common agricultural policy - Amendment of the Community support scheme for cotton - Chapter 10a of Title IV of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, inserted by Article 1(20) of Regulation (EC) No 864/2004 - Annulment of the provisions in question by a judgment of the Court - Causal link)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicants: Sungro, SA (Córdoba, Spain) (T-252/07); Eurosemillas, SA (Córdoba, Spain) (T-271/07); and Surcotton, SA (Córdoba, Spain) (T-272/07) (represented by: L. Ortiz Blanco, lawyer)

Defendants: Council of the European Union, (represented by: M. Moore, A. De Gregorio Merino and A. Westerhof Löfflerova, Agents); and European Commission (represented by: L. Parpala and F. Jimeno Fernández, Agents, assisted by E. Díaz-Bastien Lopez, L. Divar Bilbao and J. Magdalena Anda, lawyers)

Re:

Actions for compensation, under Article 235 EC and the second paragraph of Article 288 EC, for losses allegedly suffered by the applicants as a result of the adoption and application, during the 2006/07 marketing campaign, of Chapter 10a of Title IV of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers and amending Regulations (EEC) No 2019/93, (EC) No 1452/2001, (EC) No 1453/2001, (EC) No 1454/2001, (EC) No 1868/94, (EC) No 1251/1999, (EC) No 1254/1999, (EC) No 1673/2000, (EEC) No 2358/71 and (EC) No 2529/2001 (OJ 2003 L 270, p. 1), as inserted by Article 1(20) of Council Regulation (EC) No 864/2004 of 29 April 2004 amending Regulation No 1782/2003 and adapting it by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union (OJ 2004 L 161, p. 48), and annulled by the Court's judgment in Case C-310/04 Spain v Council [2006] ECR I-7285

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Joins Cases T-252/07, T-271/07 and T-272/07 for the purposes of judgment;

Dismisses the actions;

Orders Sungro, SA, Eurosemillas, SA, and Surcotton, SA to bear their own costs and to pay, jointly and severally, those incurred by the Council of the European Union and by the European Commission.

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¹ - OJ C 211, 8.9.2007.