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Action brought on 21 December 2007 - Du Pont de Nemours (France) and Others v Commission
(Case T-467/07)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Du Pont de Nemours (France) SAS (Puteaux, France), Du Pont Portugal - Serviços, sociedade unipessoal, Ld.a (Lisbon, Portugal), Du Pont Ibérica SL (Barcelona, Spain), E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co (Wilmington, United States), Du Pont de Nemours Italiana SRL (Milan, Italy), Du Pont De Nemours (Nederland) BV (Dordrecht, Netherlands), Du Pont de Nemours (Deutschland) GmbH (Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe, Germany), DuPont Poland sp. z o. o. (Warsaw, Poland), DuPont Romania SRL (Bucharest, Rumania), DuPont International Operations SARL (Le Grand Saconnex, Switzerland), Du Pont de Nemours International SA (Le Grand Saconnex, Switzerland), DuPont Solutions (France) SAS (Puteaux, France), Du Pont Agro Hellas AE (Halandri, Greece) (represented by: D. Waelbroeck and I. Antypas, lawyers)
Defendant: Commission of the European Communities
Form of order sought
Order the annulment of the Commission decision of 19 September 2007 concerning the non-inclusion of methomyl in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC and the withdrawal of authorisations for plant protection products containing that substance;
condemn the Community as represented here by the Commission to repair any damage suffered by the applicants as a result of the contested decision and to set the amount of this compensation for the damage suffered by the applicants currently estimated at approximately EUR 52.5 million; or any other amount reflecting the damage suffered or to be suffered by the applicants as further established by them in the course of this procedure especially to take due account of future damage;
in the alternative, order the parties to produce to the Court within a reasonable period of time of the date of the judgment figures as to the amount of the compensation arrived at by agreement between the parties or, in the absence of agreement, to order the parties to produce to the Court within the same period their conclusions with detailed figures;
order an interest at the rate set at the time by the European Central Bank for main refinancing operations, plus two percentage points, or any other appropriate rate to be determined by the Court, be paid on the amount payable as from the date of the Court's judgment until actual payment;
order the defendant to pay all costs and expenses in these proceedings.
Pleas in law and main arguments
Council Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market
1 provides that Member States shall not authorise a plant protection product unless its active substances are listed in Annex I and any conditions laid down therein are fulfilled. The applicants seek the annulment of Commission Decision 2007/628/EC of 19 September 2007 concerning the non-inclusion of methomyl in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC and the withdrawal of authorisations for plant protection products containing that substance
2. The applicants further request compensation for the alleged damages caused by the contested decision.
In support of their application for annulment, the applicants submit that the contested decision is adopted on the basis of an incomplete and manifestly incorrect risk assessment of methomyl, whereby the Commission did not take into account information that was available to it since September 2005.
The applicants allege that the Commission misused its powers and infringed the provisions of Directive 91/414/EEC and the principles of proportionality, sound administration, legal certainty, legitimate expectations and non-discrimination as well as the applicants' right to be heard and the duty to state reasons.
____________1 - Council Directive 91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market (OJ 1991 L 230, p. 1).2 - OJ 2007 L 255, p. 40.