Order of the Court of First Instance (Seventh Chamber) of 8 July 2009 – Thoss v Court of Auditors

(Case T-545/08)

Action for annulment – Time-limit for bringing an action – Lateness – Absence of excusable error – Manifest inadmissibility

1.                     Procedure – Division of jurisdiction between the various Community courts – Action for annulment brought by a Member of the Court of Auditors against a decision of that institution – Lack of jurisdiction of the Civil Service Tribunal (Art. 230 EC; Statute of the Court of Justice, Annex I, Art. 8(2)) (see paras 26-27)

2.                     Procedure – Time-limits for instituting proceedings – Mandatory (see paras 35-36, 40)

3.                     Actions for annulment – Time-limits – Point from which time starts to run – Notification (Art. 230, fifth para., EC) (see paras 41-42)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of the decision of the Court of Auditors of 20 March 2006 refusing to allocate to the applicant, the widow of a former Member of the Court of Auditors, a survivor’s pension on the ground that the condition that the couple had to have been married for five years at the time of death has not been satisfied (case registered as F-46/08 and referred by the Civil Service Tribunal).

Operative part

1.      The action is dismissed as manifestly inadmissible.

2.      Mrs Thérèse Nicole Thoss is ordered to pay the costs.