28.2.2022

Official Journal of the European Union

C 95/26

(Case T-795/19) (<span class="oj-super oj-note-tag">1</span>)

(Public service contracts - Provision of technical assistance services to the High Judicial Council - Decision to reduce the amount of the contract and to recover the amounts already paid - Action for annulment and for damages - Act forming part of a purely contractual framework from which it is inseparable - No arbitration clause - Inadmissibility - No heads of damage that are separable from the contract)

(2022/C 95/34)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: HB (represented by: L. Levi, lawyer)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: J. Baquero Cruz, J. Estrada de Solà and A. Katsimerou, acting as Agents)

Re:

(i)Application under Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment of Commission Decision C(2019) 7319 final of 15 October 2019 to reduce the amounts due under contract CARDS/2008/166-429 and to recover the amounts unduly paid and (ii) application under the second paragraph of Article 340 TFEU seeking, first of all, reimbursement of any amounts recovered by the Commission on the basis of that decision and payment of the last invoice issued, together with late-payment interest; next, release of the bank guarantee and compensation for the harm allegedly suffered by the applicant on account of its late release; and lastly, symbolic compensation for the non-material harm allegedly suffered by the applicant.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.Dismisses the action as inadmissible, in so far as it seeks annulment of Commission Decision C(2019) 7319 final of 15 October 2019 to reduce the amounts due under contract CARDS/2008/166-429 and to recover the amounts unduly paid;

2.Dismisses the action as unfounded, in so far as it seeks to establish non-contractual liability on the part of the European Union;

3.Orders the European Commission to pay the costs, including those relating to the interim proceedings.

(<span class="oj-super">1</span>) OJ C 10, 13.1.2020.