Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 7 June 2006 - Österreichische Postsparkasse and Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft v Commission

(Joined Cases T-213/01 and T-214/01) ¹

(Action for annulment - Competition - Regulation No 17 - Regulation (EC) No 2842/98 - Decision 2001/462/EC, ECSC - Hearing Officer - Measure having binding legal effects - Admissibility - Legitimate interest - Standing of applicant or complainant - Client final buyer of goods or services - Access to statements of objections - Confidential information - Sufficient interest)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicants: Österreichische Postsparkasse AG (Vienna, Austria) (represented by: initially M. Klusmann, F. Wiemer and A. Reidlinger, then H.-J. Niemeyer, lawyers) and Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft AG (Vienna) (represented by: H.-J. Niemeyer, lawyer)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: S. Rating, Agent)

Re:

Annulment of the decisions of the Hearing Officer of 9 August 2001 and 25 July 2001, respectively, to disclose to an Austrian political party (the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs) the non-confidential versions of the statements of objections relating to a proceeding under Article 81 EC concerning the fixing of banking tariffs (COMP/36.571-Österreische Banken)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the actions.

Orders the applicants to pay two thirds of the costs of the main proceedings and the whole of the costs of the interlocutory proceedings.

Orders the Commission to pay one third of the costs of the main proceedings.

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¹ - OJ C 331, 24.11.2001.