Case C‑268/16 P
Binca Seafoods GmbH
v
European Commission
(Appeal — Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 — Production and labelling of organic products — Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 — Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1358/2014 — Interest in bringing proceedings — Notion of ‘personal benefit’)
Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 20 December 2017
Actions for annulment—Natural or legal persons—Interest in bringing proceedings—Need for an actual and current interest—Assessment at the time when the action was lodged—Action capable of securing a benefit for the applicant—Burden of proof
(Art. 263 TFUE)
Judicial proceedings—Application initiating proceedings—Formal requirements—Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based
(Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 21; Rules of Procedure of the General Court (2015), Art. 76(1))
An action for annulment brought by a natural or legal person is admissible only in so far as that person has an interest in having the contested act annulled. Such an interest requires that the annulment of that act must be capable, in itself, of having legal consequences and that the action may therefore, through its outcome, procure an advantage to the party which brought it.
It is for the applicant to prove its interest in bringing proceedings, which is an essential and fundamental prerequisite for any legal proceedings. In particular, in order for an action seeking annulment of an act, submitted by a natural or legal person, to be admissible, the applicant must justify in a relevant manner its interest in the annulment of that act.
(see paras 44, 45)
See the text of the decision.
(see para. 56)