Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Procedure ° Costs ° Taxation ° Recoverable costs ° Concept ° Elements to be taken into consideration

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 73)

Summary

The Court is not empowered under Article 74 of the Rules of Procedure to tax the fees payable by the parties to their own lawyers but may determine the amount of those fees which may be recovered from the party ordered to pay the costs. Under Article 73 of the Rules of Procedure, expenses necessarily incurred by the parties for the purpose of the proceedings are to be regarded as recoverable costs; as follows in particular from Article 72 of the Rules, the term "proceedings" refers only to proceedings before the Court and does not include any prior stage.

Since Community law does not contain any provisions laying down a scale of fees, the Court must consider all the facts of the case, taking into account the purpose and nature of the proceedings, their significance from the point of view of Community law, as well as the difficulties presented by the case, the amount of work generated by the dispute for the lawyers involved and the financial interest which the parties had in the proceedings.

Since the Court, when determining the recoverable costs, takes account of all the circumstances of the case until the time of such determination, it is not necessary for it to rule separately on the costs incurred by the parties in connection with the proceedings for the taxation of costs.