Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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

(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 - Interim relief - Conditions for granting - Serious and irreparable damage - Standard of proof

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

3. Applications for interim measures - Suspension of operation of a measure - Interim relief - Conditions for granting - Serious and irreparable damage - Pecuniary damage - Situation liable to endanger the existence of the applicant company

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

4. Applications for interim measures - Suspension of operation of a measure - Interim relief - Interim measures related to a Commission decision terminating an expiry review of anti-dumping measures - Conditions for granting - Balancing of all the interests at stake

(Arts 242 EC and 243 EC; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 104(2); Council Regulation No 384/96, Art. 11(2))

Summary

1. Article 104(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance provides that an application for the adoption of interim measures must state the circumstances giving rise to urgency and the pleas of fact and law establishing a prima facie case (fumus boni juris) for the grant of the interim measures applied for. Those conditions are cumulative, so that an application for interim measures must be dismissed if any one of them is absent. Where appropriate, the judge hearing such an application must also weigh up the interests involved. The measures sought must also be provisional inasmuch as they must not prejudge the points of law or fact in issue, or neutralise in advance the effects of the decision subsequently to be given in the main action.

( see paras 19-20 )

2. The urgency of an application for interim measures is to be assessed by reference to the need for an interim order, in order to prevent the party seeking the interim measure from suffering serious and irreparable damage. It is for that party to prove that it cannot wait for the outcome of the main action without suffering damage of that kind. It does not have to be established with absolute certainty that the harm is imminent. It is sufficient that the harm in question, particularly when it depends on the occurrence of a number of factors, should be foreseeable with a sufficient degree of probability. However, the applicant must still prove the facts forming the basis of their claim that serious and irreparable damage is likely.

( see paras 60-61 )

3. In the context of the examination of an application for interim measures by the judge hearing that application, damage of a pecuniary nature cannot, save in exceptional circumstances, be regarded as irreparable, or even as being reparable only with difficulty, if it can ultimately be the subject of financial compensation. Damage of a pecuniary nature, which would not disappear simply as a result of compliance by the institution concerned with the judgment in the main proceedings, constitutes economic loss which could be made good by the means of redress provided for in the Treaty, in particular in Articles 235 EC and 288 EC.

On application of those principles, an interim measure is justified if it appears that, without that measure, the applicant would be in a situation that could imperil its existence before final judgment in the main action. In such a case the disappearance of the applicant before the decision on the substance of the case would make it impossible for that party to institute any judicial proceedings for compensation.

( see paras 65-66 )

4. In the context of the examination of an application for suspension of operation of a Community decision terminating an expiry review of anti-dumping measures or of provisional measures in relation to the registration of imports of the product concerned, it is necessary to weigh the interest of the applicants, that is to say, of the representatives of the Community industry, in obtaining one or other of the interim measures sought against the interest of the importers, exporters and users in the maintenance of the effects of the contested decision.

( see para. 78 )