Orders (Information) nº T-365/11 P of The General Court, December 12, 2011

• Resolution Date: December 12, 2011
• Issuing Organization: The General Court
• Decision Number: T-365/11 P

ORDER OF THE GENERAL COURT (Appeal Chamber)12 December 2011

Case T‑365/11 P

AO

v

European Commission

(Appeal — Civil service — Officials — Time-limit for appeal — Late submission — Signed original of the appeal lodged out of time — Unforeseeable circumstances — Article 43(6) of Rules of Procedure of the General Court — Appeal manifestly inadmissible)

Appeal: against the order of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal (First Chamber) of 4 April 2011 in Case F‑45/10 AO v Commission seeking to have that order set aside.

Held: The appeal is dismissed. AO is to bear his own costs and pay those incurred by the European Commission.

Summary

1. Appeals — Time-limits — Mandatory

   (Statute of the Court of Justice, Annex I, Art. 9, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 102(2))

2. Procedure — Time-limit for instituting proceedings — Claim barred by lapse of time — Unforeseeable circumstances or force majeure — Concept composed of objective and subjective elements

   (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 45, second para.)

3. Procedure — Time-limit for instituting proceedings — Claim barred by lapse of time — Unforeseeable circumstances or force majeure — Definition — Error in the address attributable to a third party — Not included

   (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 45, second para.)

1. Under the first paragraph of Article 9 of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice, an appeal may be brought before the General Court, within two months of notification of the decision appealed against, inter alia, against final decisions of the Civil Service Tribunal. That time-limit for bringing proceedings is mandatory, since it was established in order to ensure that legal positions are clear and certain and to avoid any discrimination or arbitrary treatment in the administration of justice, and it is for the EU Courts to ascertain, of their own motion, whether it has been complied with.

   (see paras 23, 24) See:

   C‑246/95 Coen [1997] ECR I‑403, para. 21

   T‑121/96 and T‑151/96 Mutual Aid Administration Services v Commission [1997] ECR II‑1355, paras 38 and 39

2. In accordance with the second paragraph of Article 45 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, no derogation from the application of the rules on procedural time-limits may be made save where the circumstances are quite exceptional, in the sense of being unforeseeable or amounting to force majeure. The concepts of force majeure and unforeseeable circumstances contain...