Case T‑376/15 AJ

(publication by extracts)

KJ
and
KK

v

Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME)

(Legal aid — Application submitted before an action was brought — Action to be brought by a natural person — Manifest inadmissibility — Action to be brought by a legal person — Aid granted)

Summary — Order of the President of the General Court, 17 February 2016

1.      Judicial proceedings — Application for legal aid — Conditions for granting — Action manifestly inadmissible — Dismissal of application

(Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 146)

2.      Judicial proceedings — Application for legal aid — Conditions for granting — Inability to meet costs of assistance and representation — Assessment of the economic situation of a legal person — Assessment having regard to the resources of the group to which the legal person belongs and the financial possibilities of its shareholders

(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Arts 146 to 150)

1.      See the text of the decision.

(see paras 5, 12)

2.      The assessment of its economic situation for the purposes of determining whether a legal person must be granted legal aid cannot be made having regard solely to its resources considered in isolation, independently of the situation of the direct or indirect holders of its capital.

According to the third paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, legal aid is made available to those who lack sufficient resources in so far as such aid is necessary to ensure effective access to justice. It is in the light of that principle, which may be relied on by legal persons, that the conditions for granting legal aid, laid down in Articles 146 to 150 of the Rules of Procedure, must be interpreted.

A legal person cannot be regarded as being deprived of effective access to justice, within the meaning of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, solely because the direct or indirect holders of its capital refuse to use the resources at their disposal in order to enable that legal person to bring legal proceedings. In such circumstances, it is not for the European Union budget, through the funds made available to the General Court, to offset the inaction on the part of persons who control the legal person in question and who, ultimately, are principally interested in safeguarding its rights. 

Consequently, in order to assess the financial situation of a legal person requesting the grant of legal aid, it is necessary to take into account not only its own financial resources but also the resources at the disposal of the group of companies as a whole to which it belongs, directly or indirectly, and the financial possibilities open to its shareholders and members, natural and legal persons.

(see paras 16-19)