16.2.2015

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 56/28

(Case T-847/14)

(2015/C 056/39)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: GHC Gerling, Holz & Co. Handels GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) (represented by: D. Lang, lawyer)

Defendant: European Commission

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

—annul the Commission implementing decision of 31 October 2014 C(2014) 7920 and the quota assigned to the applicant for 2015 for the placing of hydrofluorocarbons on the market, in so far as they establish too low a reference value for the applicant and assign to the applicant too low a quota for 2015;

—order the defendant to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant relies on three pleas in law.

1.First plea in law: Infringement of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 (1)

—By this plea the applicant submits that the defendant established too low a reference value for the applicant and assigned to it too low a quota for 2015. The applicant complains that, in its calculation, the Commission took into account the development of stocks in the reference years.

—The applicant submits that the wording, history, scheme and spirit and purpose of Regulation No 517/2014 do not justify the taking into account of the development of stocks.

—Within the context of this plea, the applicant asserts that the annual development of stocks is not suitable for determining the quantity actually placed on the market for importers and exporters which are not producers, and distorts that determination to the applicant’s detriment.

2.Second plea in law: Infringement of the principle of equality stemming from Article 20 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

—By this plea the applicant submits that, due to the taking into account of the annual development of stocks in the reference years, it is unfairly disadvantaged vis-à-vis importers which sold their stocks over the course of the reference year and did not store them beyond the end of the year.

—In addition, the applicant as an importer is also unfairly disadvantaged vis-à-vis producers, since the taking into account of the development of the annual stocks is suitable for producers to accurately reflect the quantity actually placed on the market, whereas it is distorted to the applicant’s detriment.

3.Third plea in law: Infringement of the obligation to state reasons stemming from Article 296 TFEU

—By this plea the applicant submits in particular that the contested decision does not comply with the requirements flowing from the obligation to state reasons; in particular it is not evident how the tonnes of CO₂ equivalent indicated for the applicant is composed.

(1) Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on fluorinated greenhouse gases and repealing Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 (OJ 2014 L 150, p. 195).