Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Actions for annulment - Actionable measures - Definition - Measures producing binding legal effects - Commission interpretation of a legislative provision setting a deadline by which potential recipients of Community financial assistance must bring proceedings - Not covered - Decision declaring the applicant to be out of time - Covered - Automatic release of the sums at issue - Not covered

(EC Treaty, Art. 173)

2 Economic and social cohesion - Structural interventions - Integrated Mediterranean programmes - Grant of Community financial assistance - Deadline for submitting applications for final payment - Date on which the application is sent

(Council Regulation No 4256/88, as amended by Regulation No 2085/93, Art. 10)

Summary

1 Any measure the legal effects of which are binding on, and capable of affecting the interests of, the applicant by bringing about a distinct change in his legal position is an act or a decision which may be the subject of an action under Article 173 of the Treaty for a declaration that it is void.

That cannot be said of a document in which the Commission simply interprets a legislative provision providing for the automatic release of the sums committed for the granting of assistance in respect of certain projects decided on by the Commission which have not been the subject of a request for final payment within the time-limits.

By contrast, a measure whereby the Commission, in applying its interpretation of a legislative provision, concludes that the potential recipient had not respected the deadline and denies it the financial assistance initially granted to it is an act which may be the subject of an action under Article 173.

However, a measure releasing the sums in question is not the unavoidable consequence of a declaration that the right to financial assistance previously granted by the Commission has been forfeited. Consequently, such a measure does not, as such, produce any independent legal effect vis-à-vis the potential beneficiary.

2 The deadline laid down in Article 10 of Regulation No 4256/88, as amended by Regulation No 2085/93, for submitting requests for final payment of sums committed for the granting of assistance in respect of projects decided on by the Commission within the framework of Regulation No 2088/85 concerning the integrated Mediterranean programmes must be understood as being the date on which the request is sent, not the date on which it is received by the Commission.

First, such an interpretation ensures equal treatment for potential applicants, since it ensures that the time-limit is the same, irrespective of the geographical distance of the recipients and the time necessary for transmission. Second, in view of the radical consequences of exceeding the time-limit laid down by law, legal certainty requires that reference be made to the date on which the request is sent, to the advantage of the potential recipients, since they can determine only the date on which the request is sent, of which they can provide proof, and not the time taken to transmit that request.