61998B0191

1 Applications for interim measures - Suspension of operation of a measure - Interim relief - Conditions for granting - Prima facie case - Urgency - Cumulative requirements - Balancing of all the interests at stake

(EC Treaty, Arts 185 and 186 (now Arts 242 EC and 243 EC); Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 104(2))

2 Applications for interim measures - Suspension of operation of a measure - Suspension of operation of the obligation to lodge a bank guarantee as a condition for postponing the immediate recovery of a fine - Conditions for granting - Exceptional circumstances - Situation of the group to which the undertaking belongs to be taken into account

(EC Treaty, Arts 185 and 186 (now Arts 242 EC and 243 EC); Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 104(2))

1 Article 104(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance provides that applications for interim measures must state the circumstances giving rise to urgency and the pleas of fact and law establishing a prima facie case for the measures applied for. Those requirements are cumulative, so that an application for suspension of operation must be dismissed if one of them is not met. Where necessary, the court hearing an application for interim relief also balances the interests at stake.

2 An application for suspension of operation of a measure, the object of which is to obtain dispensation from the obligation to provide a bank guarantee as a condition for a fine not being recovered immediately, may be granted only in exceptional circumstances.

In order to assess the applicant's ability to provide a bank guarantee without jeopardising its existence, account should also be taken of the group of undertakings to which it belongs directly or indirectly, particularly with regard to the possibility of providing the security which the banks might require.