Joined Cases C‑138/17 P and C‑146/17 P
European Union
V
Gascogne Sack Deutschland GmbH and Gascogne SA
(Appeal — Actions for damages — Second paragraph of Article 340 TFEU — Excessive duration of the proceedings in two cases before the General Court of the European Union — Damage allegedly suffered by the applicants — Material damage — Bank guarantee charges — Causal link — Default interest — Non-material damage)
Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 13 December 2018
Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Causal link — Burden of proof
(Art. 340, second para., TFEU)
Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Causal link — Concept — Bank guarantee charges arising from the choice of an undertaking not to pay the fine imposed by the Commission — Infringement by the EU judicature of the duty to adjudicate within a reasonable time on the occasion of the action by that undertaking — No direct causal link
(Art. 340, second para., TFEU)
Judicial proceedings — Duration of the proceedings before the General Court — Reasonable time — Criteria for assessment
(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47, second para.)
Appeal — Grounds — Plea directed against a superfluous ground — Invalid plea in law — Rejection
(Art. 256(1) TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.)
Appeal — Grounds — Inadequate statement of reasons — Criteria used by the General Court to determine the amount of compensation awarded by way of reparation for damage — Judicial review by the Court
Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Unlawfulness — Damage — Causal link — One of the conditions not satisfied — Claim for compensation dismissed in its entirety
(Art. 340, second para., TFEU)
See the text of the decision.
(see para. 22)
The circumstance that the EU judicature may have committed a breach of the obligation to adjudicate within a reasonable time in cases relating to the lawfulness of a fine imposed by the Commission cannot be the determining cause of the damage suffered by the undertaking which brought the action as a result of paying bank guarantee charges during the period by which that time was exceeded. That would be the case only if it were compulsory to maintain the bank guarantee, so that the undertaking which brought an action against a Commission decision imposing a fine on it, and which chose to provide a bank guarantee in order not to comply immediately with that decision, was not entitled, before the date on which the judgment on that action was delivered, to pay that fine and put an end to the bank guarantee that it had provided.
Like the provision of the bank guarantee, the maintenance of that guarantee is a matter for the discretion of the undertaking concerned in the light of its financial interests. Nothing prevents, as a matter of EU law, that undertaking from terminating, at any time, the bank guarantee that it has provided and paying the fine imposed, where, in view of the evolution of the circumstances in relation to those existing on the date when that guarantee was provided, that undertaking deems that option more advantageous for it. That might be the case, in particular, where the conduct of the proceedings before the EU judicature leads the undertaking in question to take the view that the judgment will be delivered at a date later than that which it had initially envisaged and that, consequently, the cost of the bank guarantee will be higher than the cost that it had initially envisaged when providing that guarantee.
(see paras 28, 29, 31)
A claim for compensation for the damage caused by the failure by the General Court to adjudicate within a reasonable time has to be brought before the General Court itself. It is for the General Court to assess both the actual existence of the harm alleged and the causal connection between that harm and the excessive length of the legal proceedings in dispute by examining the evidence submitted for that purpose.
(see para. 35)
See the text of the decision.
(see para. 45)
See the text of the decision.
(see paras 59, 60)
See the text of the decision.
(see paras 67, 68)