Staff case summary

Staff case summary

Summary

Procedure – Costs – Taxation – Elements to be taken into consideration

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 91(b); Council Decision 2004/752, Art. 3(4))

When assessing the scale of work involved in the proceedings before the Court in order to determine the amount of recoverable costs, the primary consideration of the Community judicature is the total number of hours of work which may appear to be objectively necessary for the purpose of those proceedings. The amount of an adviser’s fees cannot depend on the length of the documents he produces. Concise documents may be as much a reflection of their author’s ability to summarise, saving the Court and the other party time, as a sign of quick work. The brevity of a document cannot, in principle, be regarded as reflecting rapid or cursory work by the person who produces it.

(see paras 23-24)

See:

T-290/94 DEP Kaysersberg v Commission [1998] ECR II‑4105, para. 20; T-171/00 DEP Spruyt v Commission [2002] ECR‑SC I‑A‑225 and II‑1127, para. 29