Notice for the OJ

 

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1

Action brought on 31 October 2003 by MEDICI GRIMM KG against the Council of the European Union

(Case T-364/03)

Language of the case: English

An action against The Council of the European Union was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 31 October 2003 by MEDICI GRIMM KG, Rodgau Hainhausen, Germany, represented by Dr Robert MacLean, Solicitor with an address for service in Luxembourg.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

-     order that, pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 288 of the EC Treaty, the Council of Ministers of the European Union is liable for the damage caused to the Applicant and order the Council to pay damages to the Applicant for the sum of EUR 89,286 in interest and the sum of EUR 81,079 in legal costs of the administrative procedure, or whatever sums the Court decides appropriate;

order the Council to pay the legal costs and expenses of the procedure.

Pleas in law and main arguments:

The applicant is a company dealing in leather handbags. In the course of its business it regularly imported handbags manufactured by a company based in the People's Republic of China. Council Regulation EC 1567/971imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of leather handbags originating in that country. That Regulation was later amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 2380/98 of 3 November 19982 which imposed a specific anti-dumping duty rate of 0% on the handbags imported by the applicant. However, this provision was not given retroactive effect and consequently duties paid by the applicant until then were not refunded.

The applicant brought an application before the Court of First Instance3seeking the annulment of Regulation No 2380/98 insofar as the Council failed to give retroactive effect to the above amendment. By judgement dated 29 June 20004the Court of First Instance annulled the contested provision. Thereafter the Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 133/2001 of 22 January 20015 amending Regulation (EC) No 1567/97 and granting retroactive effect to the provision in question. All of the applicant's payments of duties imposed by Regulation No 1567/97 were refunded to it.

By its present action the applicant seeks to obtain compensation in the form of interest on the amounts of import duty which it initially paid and which were later refunded to it, as well as in the form of legal expenses it incurred in the course of administrative proceedings before the Commission and the German customs authorities.

In support of its application the applicant submits that the Council acted illegally in refusing to abide by the consequences of the review findings leading to Regulation 2380/98 and that this illegal behaviour was of sufficient gravity as to give rise to liability under Article 288 EC.

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¹ - Official Journal L 208 , 02/08/997 P. 3 - 43

² - Official Journal L 96 , 05/11/1998 P. 1 - 5

³ - Case no T-7/99, notified in Official Journal C 86, 27/0/1999 P. 2

⁴ - Notified in C 259 09/09/2000 P. 17

⁵ - Official Journal L 023 , 2/01/2001 P. 9