Notice for the OJ

 

    ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

     30 October 2003

In Joined Cases T-125/03 R: Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd and Akcros Chemicals Ltd v Commission of the European Communities

(Interim measures ( Competition ( Commission's powers of investigation ( Protection of confidentiality ( Communications between lawyers and clients ( Limits)

    (Language of the case: English)

In Joined Cases T-125/03 R and T-253/03 R, Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd, established in London (United Kingdom), Akcros Chemicals Ltd, established in Surrey (United Kingdom), represented by C. Swaak and M. Mollica, lawyers, v Commission of the European Communities (Agents: R. Waiwright and C. Ingen-Housz): Application for, first, suspension of the operation of the Commission's decision of 10 February 2003 amending the decision of 30 January 2003 ordering Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd, Akcros Chemicals Ltd and Akcros Chemicals and their subsidiaries to submit to an investigation under Article 14(3) of Council Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962, First Regulation implementing Articles [81] and [82] of the Treaty (OJ, English Special Edition 1959-1962, p. 87), and also other interim measures to protect the applicants' interests (Case T-125/03 R), and, second, suspension of the operation of the Commission's decision of 8 May 2003 rejecting a claim of legal privilege in respect of five documents copied during an investigation and also other interim measures to protect the applicants' interests (Case T-253/03 R), the President of the Court of First Instance has made an order on 30 October 2003, the operative part of which is as follows:

Cases T-125/03 R and T-253/03 R are joined for the purposes of this order.

The Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union, the Algemene Raad van de Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten and the European Company Lawyers Association are granted leave to intervene in Cases T-125/03 R and T-253/03 R.

At the stage of the application for interim measures, the requests for confidential treatment submitted by the applicants in respect of certain matters in the procedural documents in Cases T-125/03 R and T-253/03 R and referred to as such in the letter of 16 September 2003 from the Registry to the applicants are granted.

The application for interim measures in Case T-125/03 R is dismissed.

The Commission's statement that it will not allow third parties to have access to the Set B documents pending judgment in the main proceedings in Case T-253/03 is noted.

In Case T-253/03 R, the operation of Article 2 of the Commission's decision of 8 May 2003 concerning a claim of legal privilege (Case COMP/E-1/38.589) is suspended pending the judgment of the Court in the main proceedings.

The sealed envelope containing the Set A documents will be kept by the Registry of the Court of First Instance pending the decision of the Court in the main action.

The remainder of the application for interim measures in Case T-253/03 R is dismissed.

The costs in Cases T-125/03 R and T-253/03 R are reserved.

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