Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Actions for annulment – Action really relating to a contractual dispute – Lack of jurisdiction of the Community courts – Inadmissibility

(Arts 225 EC, 230 EC, 238 EC, 240 EC and 249 EC)

2. Actions for annulment – Action really relating to a contractual dispute – Reclassification of action – Excluded

(Arts 230 EC and 238 EC; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 44(1)(c))

Summary

1. An action for annulment brought against letters of the Commission seeking to recover funds paid by way of subsidies granted in the context of the JOP programme, which itself was implemented in the context of the Phare programme, is inadmissible inasmuch as the letters are part of a purely contractual context from which they are inseparable and where, by their very nature, they are not among the measures covered by Article 249 EC, annulment of which may be sought before the Community judicature pursuant to the fourth paragraph of Article 230 EC.

(see paras 85, 87)

2. When faced with an annulment action whereas the dispute is, in reality, contractual in nature, the Court of First Instance cannot reclassify the action if, first, the applicant has expressly stated in its pleadings that the action is not based on Article 238 EC, and, secondly, contrary to what is provided in Article 44(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure, the applicant does not raise, even briefly, any plea, argument or complaint alleging infringement of the law of the Member State which applies to the agreement in question by virtue of the arbitration clause contained in that agreement.

(see para. 88)