(Civil service – Officials – Actions for damages – Failure to comply with a reasonable period for lodging a claim for compensation – Manifest inadmissibility)

Application: brought under Articles 236 EC and 152 EA, in which Mr Marcuccio essentially seeks an order for the Commission to compensate him for the damage resulting from the fact that it purportedly sent him a note to a fax number which it should not have used.

Held: The action is dismissed as manifestly inadmissible. The applicant is ordered to pay the costs.

Summary

Officials – Actions – Time-limits – Claim for compensation addressed to an institution – Duty to act within a reasonable time

(Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 46; Staff Regulations, Art. 90)

It is for officials or other staff members to refer to the institution any claim seeking compensation from the Community for damage allegedly attributable to it, within a reasonable period from the time they became aware of the situation they complain of. The reasonableness of the period must be assessed according to the circumstances applicable in each individual case and, in particular, according to the interests in issue for the parties in the case, the complexity of the case and the conduct of the parties involved.

Account must also be taken, in that regard, of the point of reference provided by the limitation period of five years laid down for actions in non-contractual liability by Article 46 of the Statute of the Court of Justice. However, the five-year period does not constitute a hard and fast limit below which any application is admissible regardless of the time the applicant has taken to put his application to the administration and of the circumstances of the case.

(see paras 19-22)

See:

T-144/02 Eagle and Others v Commission [2004] ECR II‑3381, paras 65 and 66

F-125/05 Tsarnavas v Commission [2007] ECR-SC I-A-1-0000 and II-A-1-0000, paras 76 and 77