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Action brought on 8 January 2010 - Commission v Earthscan

(Case T-5/10)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: A.-M. Rouchaud-Joët, S. Petrova, Agents, assisted by P. Hermant and G. van de Walle de Ghelcke, lawyers)

Defendant: Earthscan Ltd (Kent, United Kingdom)

Form of order sought

order the defendant to repay the Commission the amount of EUR 44 903.22, corresponding to a principal amount of EUR 45 835.44 of which EUR 6 486.09 was already paid and interests until 30 September 2009 of EUR 5 556.87;

order the defendant to pay interests of EUR 3.84 per day from 1October 2009 on until the entirety of the debt is paid;

order that the defendant pay the cost incurred by the Commission.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By the present action, based on an arbitration clause, the applicant requests that the defendant be ordered to repay part of the advance paid by the applicant, together with default interests, as a result of the non-performance of contract No 4.1030/Z/01-035/2001, concluded between the applicant and nine contractors including the defendant, for the development, the publication and the dissemination of a guide on renewable energy (project " Guide for Renewable Energy installations to promote biomass, photovoltaics and solar thermal in the EU ") in the framework of the ALTENER programme¹.

The applicant raises a single plea in law.

Given that the defendant did not carry out the performance of the contract for phases 6 and 7 (layout, typesetting, printing and dissemination), the applicant contends that the defendant breached its contractual obligations by failing to reimburse its share of the pre-financing that was overpaid in application of the contract. It claims that the defendant must therefore be condemned to repay the overpaid amount, accrued with the default interests as calculated in the contract.

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¹ - Decision No 646/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 February 2000 adopting a multiannual programme for the promotion of renewable energy sources in the Community (Altener) (1998 to 2002), OJ L 79, p. 1