(Civil service – Officials – Request for information on personal effects dispatched from the place of employment to the place of residence – No need to adjudicate – Application for damages manifestly unfounded)

Application: brought under Articles 236 EC and 152 EA, in which Mr Marcuccio seeks, first, annulment of the implied decision rejecting his request for a copy of the consignment note relating to the dispatch of his personal effects from Angola to Italy, and, second, damages.

Held: There is no need to adjudicate on the claims for annulment. The claims for compensation are rejected as manifestly unfounded. The applicant is to bear his own costs and all the costs incurred by the Commission.

Summary

1. Procedure – Request complied with after action was brought – Action which has become devoid of purpose – No need to adjudicate

(Staff Regulations, Arts 90 and 91)

1.Since the applicant has, after bringing his action, essentially obtained everything he sought from the institution, his action for annulment of the implied decision rejecting his request has become devoid of purpose and there is no longer any need to give a ruling.

2.Non-contractual liability on the part of the Community is subject to a number of conditions relating to the illegality of the conduct alleged against the Community institutions, actual damage and the existence of a causal link between the conduct of the institution and the damage complained of. If any one of those conditions is not satisfied, the entire action must be dismissed and it is unnecessary to consider the other conditions for such liability.

See:

T-165/03 Vonier v Commission [2004] ECR-SC I‑A‑343 and II‑1575, para. 78