Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 9 April 2002 by Jégo-Quéré & Cie S.A. against Commission of the European Communities.

    (Case T-198/02)

Language of the case: French

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 9 April 2002 by Jégo-Quéré & Cie S.A., established in Lorient (France), represented by Antonio Creus Carreras, Begoña Uriarte Valiente and Albert Agustinoy Guilayn, avocats.

The applicant claims that the Court should :

-    annul Articles 3(d) and 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 492/2002 of 19 March 2002 establishing additional technical measures for the recovery of the stock of hake in ICES sub-areas II, IV, V, VI and VII and ICES divisions VIII a, b, d, e;

-    order the defendant to pay the all the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By the regulation contested in the present case, the Commission is extending measures intended to recover the stock of hake in certain fishing areas. Those measures were already established for a period of six months by Commission Regulation No 1162/2001.¹ The applicant is challenging that regulation in Case T-177/01 Jégo Quéré & Cie v Commission.²

The applicant states that the regulation contested in the present action was adopted by the Commission on the basis of Article 45(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98.³ In other words, its legal basis is different from that of Commission Regulation No 1162/2001, contested in Case T-177/01, the measures laid down in which it purports to extend. The earlier regulation was adopted on the basis of Article 15(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92.⁴ The maximum period of six months laid down in that provision for the duration of such Commission measures expired without the Council having itself adopted any conservation measures. The Commission was therefore obliged in the present case to seek a different legal basis in order to be able to extend the measures in question, which id did by means of the present regulation. On this point, the applicant pleads an error in the legal basis used for the adoption of the regulation in question and an infringement of the principle of legal certainty.

Furthermore, according to the applicant, the defendant may have been guilty of misuse of powers, by assuming powers which clearly belong to the Council.

The remaining pleas in law and main arguments put forward in the present case are similar to those already put forward in Case T-177/01.

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¹ - Commission Regulation (EC) No 1182/2001 of 14 June 2001 establishing measures for the recovery of the stock of hake in ICES sub-areas III, IV, V, VI and VII and ICES divisions VIII a, b, d, e and associated conditions for the control of activities of fishing vessels (OJ L 159, 16.06.2001, p. 4).

² - OJ C 289, 13.10.2001, p. 23.

³ - Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98 of 30 March 1998 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms (OJ L 125, 27.03.1998, p. 1).

⁴ - Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 of 20 December 1992 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture (OJ L 389, 31.12.1992, p. 1).