Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Actions for annulment of measures ° Natural or legal persons ° Measures of direct and individual concern to them ° Letter of the Commission informing a non-member country, in connection with an agreement on fisheries, of a decision to impose a penalty on a vessel flying that country' s flag ° Action by the owner of the vessel ° Admissibility

(EEC Treaty, Art. 173, second para.; Council Regulation No 3929/90, Art. 3(7) and (8))

2. Community law ° Principles ° Right to be heard ° Penalty imposed on the owner of a vessel of a non-member country in connection with an agreement on fisheries ° Failure by the Commission to place that party in a position where he could effectively submit observations ° Unlawful

Summary

1. A letter of the Commission addressed to the Swedish authorities to inform them of a penalty imposed, under the power and discretion conferred on it by Article 3(7) and (8) of Regulation No 3929/90, on a Swedish fishing vessel which for a certain period will no longer be eligible for a licence under the Agreement on Fisheries between the Community and Sweden constitutes a decision against which an action for annulment can be brought by the owner of the vessel in question.

2. Observance of the right to be heard is, in all proceedings initiated against a person which are liable to culminate in a measure adversely affecting that person, a fundamental principle of Community law which must be guaranteed even in the absence of any rules governing the procedure in question. That principle requires that any person on whom a penalty may be imposed must be placed in a position in which he can effectively make known his view of the matters on the basis of which the Commission imposes the penalty. It follows that the decision of the Commission contained in a letter informing the Swedish authorities of a penalty imposed on a Swedish vessel under the Agreement on Fisheries between the Community and Sweden must be annulled if the owner of the vessel has not been given any opportunity to submit observations before the adoption of the decision.