Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Procedure - Application initiating proceedings - Subject-matter of the proceedings - Definition - Amendment in the course of proceedings - Prohibited

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 44(1) and 48(2))

2. Non-contractual liability - Conditions - Illegality - Damage - Causal link

(EC Treaty, Art. 215, second para. (now Art. 288, second para., EC))

3. International agreements - Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation - GATT 1994 - Direct effect - None - Not possible to rely on the GATT rules in order to contest the lawfulness of a Community act

(General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1994)

4. Procedure - Introduction of new pleas in law in the course of proceedings - Conditions - New matter - Definition

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 48(2))

5. International agreements - Agreements concluded by Member States - Agreements predating the EC Treaty - Article 234 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 307 EC) - Purpose - Scope

(EC Treaty, Art. 234, first para. (now, after amendment, Art. 307, first para., EC))

Summary

1. Under Article 44(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance an applicant is required to state in his application the subject-matter of the proceedings and the forms of order sought. Although Article 48(2) of those rules authorises, in certain circumstances, new pleas in law to be introduced in the course of proceedings, that provision cannot in any circumstances be interpreted as authorising the applicant to bring new claims before the Community judicature and thereby to modify the subject-matter of the proceedings.

( see para. 28 )

2. The Community can incur non-contractual liability under the second paragraph of Article 215 of the EC Treaty (now the second paragraph of Article 288 EC) only if a number of conditions, relating to the unlawfulness of the alleged conduct of the Community institutions, the existence of damage and the presence of a causal link between that conduct and the alleged damage, are met.

( see para. 30 )

3. Having regard to their nature and structure, the WTO Agreement and its annexes are not in principle among the rules in the light of which the Court is to review the legality of measures of the Community institutions. Those texts are not such as to create rights upon which individuals may rely directly before the courts by virtue of Community law.

( see para. 43 )

4. A judgment of the Community judicature which merely confirms the law which was in principle known to the applicant when it brought its action cannot be regarded as a new matter allowing a fresh plea to be raised.

( see para. 49 )

5. The purpose of the first paragraph of Article 234 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, the first paragraph of Article 307 EC) is to make clear, in accordance with the principles of international law, that application of the Treaty does not affect the commitment of the Member State concerned to respect the rights of third countries under an earlier agreement and to comply with its obligations thereunder. Thus, for a Community provision to be deprived of effect as a result of an international agreement, two conditions must be fulfilled: the agreement must have been concluded before the entry into force of the Treaty and the third country concerned must derive from it rights which it can require the Member State concerned to respect.

( see paras 70-71 )