Action brought on 24 June 2022 – Carmeuse Holding v Commission
(Case T-385/22)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Carmeuse Holding SRL (Brașov, Romania) (represented by: S. Olaru, R. Ionescu and R. Savin, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission
Form of order sought
The applicant claims that the Court should:
declare the application admissible and well-founded;
annul the Commission Decision 2022/C 160/09 of 14 February 2022 instructing the central administrator of the European Union Transaction Log to enter changes to the national allocation tables of Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden into the European Union Transaction Log1 to the extent that it sets a wrong number of free allowances to be allocated to the applicant’s installations Valea Mare Pravat and Fieni for years 2021-2025 and reduces:
a number of 5,355 free allowances for Carmeuse Holding SRL - Valea Mare Pravat installation, located in Valea Mare Pravat, Arges County, Romania, ID 55 in the Union Registry for each of the years 2021-2025;
a number of 4,569 free allowances for the Carmeuse Holding SRL – Fieni installation, located in Fieni, Garii Street No. 2, Dambovita County, Romania, ID 56 in the Union Registry for each of the years 2021-2025;
order the Defendant to pay the costs incurred by the Applicant in these proceedings;
take such other or further measures as justice may require.
Pleas in law and main arguments
In support of the action, the applicant relies on three pleas in law.
First plea in law, alleging that the contested decision errs on the calculation of the number of free emission allowances to be allocated to Carmeuse’s installations.
Second plea in law, alleging that the Commission breached several fundamental principles of EU law when issuing the contested decision, namely the principle of equality, the principle of certainty and legitimate expectations and Carmeuse’s right to good administration and right of defence, which has resulted in the allocation of fewer free emission allowances to Carmeuse’s installations.
Third plea in law, alleging the contested decision is insufficiently reasoned as regards the number of free emission allowances allocated to Carmeuse’s installations, in that it does not detail the decision-making process, nor the reasons for rejecting Carmeuse’s arguments, and it does not address the essential reasons for which the formula thus applied by the Commission supersedes the binding legislation.
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1 Commission Decision of 14 February 2022 instructing the Central Administrator of the European Union Transaction Log to enter changes to the national allocation tables of Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden into the European Union Transaction Log 2022/C 160/09 - C/2022/968 (OJ 2022 C 160, p. 27).