Order of the General Court (Sixth Chamber) of 29 June 2015 —
Frank Bold v Commission

(Case T‑19/13)

Environment — Directive 2003/87/EC — Scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading — Decision granting the Czech Republic an option for transitional free allocation of quotas for the modernisation of electricity generation — Request for internal review of that decision — No measure of individual scope — Commission decision declaring the request for a review inadmissible — Action in part manifestly inadmissible and in part manifestly lacking any foundation in law)

1.                     Acts of the institutions — Decision of the Commission fronting a Member State an option for transitional free allocation of quotas for the modernisation of electricity generation — Measure of general scope — No administrative act which can form the subject-matter of a request for an internal review under Regulation No 1367/2006 (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1367/2006, Arts 2(1)(g), and 10(1); European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/87, Arts 9 and 10c) (see paras 33-45)

2.                     International agreements — European Union Agreements — Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) — Effects — Primacy over secondary legislation of the European Union — Examination of the legality of an act of secondary EU law having regard to the provisions of that convention — Conditions — Provisions not unconditional and sufficiently precise — Not included (Art. 216(2) TFEU; Aarhus Convention, Art. 9(3); European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1367/2006, Art. 10(1)) (see paras 52-54)

3.                     Environment — Atmospheric pollution — Directive 2003/87 — National allocation plan for greenhouse gas emission allowances (NAP) — Discretion of the Commission — Adoption of guidelines for implementation of the directive — Scope — Self-limitation of the Commission’s power — Right of addressee Member States to cite the said guidelines against the Commission (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/87) (see paras 62, 63)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of (i) Commission Decision C(2012) 8382 final of 12 November 2012 rejecting as inadmissible the request for internal review of Commission decision C(2012) 4576 final of 6 July 2012 granting the Czech Republic an option for transitional free allocation of quotas for the modernisation of electricity generation, and (ii) the latter decision.

Operative part

1. The action is dismissed.

2. Frank Bold Society is ordered to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission.

3. The Czech Republic is ordered to bear its own costs.