Action brought on 12 December 2023 – Servier and Others v Commission
(Case T-1152/23)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Servier SAS (Suresnes, France), Servier Laboratories Ltd (Slough, United Kingdom), Les Laboratoires Servier SAS (Suresnes) (represented by: J. Killick, T. Reymond, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission
Form of order sought
The applicants claim that the Court should:
(a) order the European Union, represented by the European Commission, to pay financial compensation:
i. corresponding to the default interest on the sum of EUR 102,668,310 at the European Central Bank interest rate for its refinancing operations, increased by three and a half percentage points, for the period between 7 October 2014 and 31 January 2019, which results in an amount of EUR 15,965,920, or, failing that, at the interest rate the Court considers appropriate;
ii. in the alternative, corresponding to the compensatory interest owed to reflect depreciation in the value of money due to inflation between 7 October 2014 and 31 January 2019, which amounts to EUR 6,036,897, or, failing that, such other amount as the Court considers appropriate;
(b) order the European Union, represented by the European Commission, to pay default interest on the financial compensation claimed under the preceding sub-paragraph (a) for the period between 31 January 2019 and the date of actual payment by the Commission of the amount paid in preceding sub-paragraph (a) in compliance with a judgment upholding the present action, at the European Central Bank interest rate for its refinancing operations, increased by three and a half percentage points, or, failing that, at the interest rate the Court considers appropriate;
(c) in the alternative, order the European Union, represented by the European Commission to pay compensatory interest on the financial compensation claimed under the preceding sub-paragraph (a) for the period between 31 January 2019 and the date of actual payment by the Commission of the amount paid in preceding subparagraph (a) in compliance with a judgment upholding the present action, at the annual rate of inflation determined, for the period in question, by the higher of the Eurostat inflation rate for France or inflation rate established by the Office of National Statistics for the UK, or, failing that, a compensatory interest to compensate for inflation for the time period and at the interest rate that the Court considers appropriate;
(d) in the further alternative, order the European Union, represented by the European Commission, to pay financial compensation corresponding to the default interest on such other sum as the Court considers appropriate at the European Central bank interest rate for its refinancing operations, increased by three and a half percentage points, for the period between 7 October 2014 and 31 January 2019, plus interest at the same rate (or, in the alternative, at a rate established under the principles set out in preceding sub-paragraph (c)) until the date of actual payment by the Commission; and
(e) order the European Commission to pay its costs and those of the applicants.
Pleas in law and main arguments
The applicants’ primary claim for damages is that the Commission committed a sufficiently serious breach of Article 266 TFEU by failing to pay default interest when it repaid the unduly levied fine following the General Court’s judgment in Case T-691/14, Servier SAS and Others v Commission.1
In the alternative, the applicants claim damages on the basis that the Commission committed a sufficient serious breach of Article 266 TFEU by failing to pay compensatory interest to reflect the depreciation of the value of money when it repaid the unduly levied fine following the General Court’s judgment in Case T-691/14, Servier SAS and Others v Commission.
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1 Judgment of 12 December 2018,
Servier and Others v
Commission (T-691/14, EU:T:2018:922).