Orders nº T-689/13 DEP II of Tribunal General de la Unión Europea, September 25, 2019

• Resolution Date: September 25, 2019
• Issuing Organization: Tribunal General de la Unión Europea
• Decision Number: T-689/13 DEP II

(Procedure - Taxation of costs)

In Case T-689/13 DEP II,

Bilbaína de Alquitranes, SA, established in Luchana-Baracaldo, Biscay (Spain), and the other applicants whose names are listed in the Annex, represented by K. Van Maldegem, P. Sellar, M. Grunchard and S. Saez Moreno, lawyers,

applicants,

supported by

GrafTech Iberica, SL, established in Navarra (Spain), represented by K. Van Maldegem, P. Sellar, M. Grunchard and S. Saez Moreno, lawyers,

intervener,

v

European Commission, represented by M. Wilderspin, R. Lindenthal and K. Talabér-Ritz, acting as Agents,

defendant,

APPLICATION for taxation of costs further to the judgment of 7 October 2015, Bilbaína de Alquitranes and Others v Commission (T-689/13, not published, EU:T:2015:767),

THE GENERAL COURT (Fifth Chamber),

composed of A. Dittrich (Rapporteur), acting as President, V. Tomljenović and J. Schwarcz, Judges,

Registrar: E. Coulon,

makes the following

Order

Facts, procedure and forms of order sought

1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 20 December 2013 and registered under number T-689/13, the applicants brought an action for annulment in part of Commission Regulation (EU) No 944/2013 of 2 October 2013 amending, for the purposes of its adaptation to technical and scientific progress, Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (OJ 2013 L 261, p. 5). The applicants sought annulment of Regulation No 944/2013 in so far as it classified the substance pitch, coal tar, high-temperature (EC No 266-028-2; ‘CTPHT’), namely a black solid, composed primarily of a complex mixture of three or more membered condensed ring aromatic hydrocarbons, as an Aquatic Acute 1 (H400) and Aquatic Chronic 1 (H410) substance.

2 By application registered at the Court Registry on 5 May 2014, GrafTech Iberica, SL, applied for leave to intervene in support of the form of order sought by the applicants. By order of 11 July 2014, the Court granted leave to intervene.

3 By judgment of 7 October 2015, Bilbaína de Alquitranes and Others v Commission (T-689/13, not published, EU:T:2015:767), the Court annulled in part Regulation No 944/2013 in so far as it classified CTPHT as an Aquatic Acute 1 (H400) and Aquatic Chronic 1 (H410) substance and ordered the Commission to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the applicants and by the intervener GrafTech Iberica.

4 By its appeal, lodged at the Registry of the Court of Justice on 17 December 2015, the Commission requested the Court of Justice to set aside the judgment of the General Court of 7 October 2015. An application for interim measures made by the applicants seeking suspension of the effects of the partially annulled regulation was dismissed by order of the Vice-President of the Court of Justice of 7 July 2016, Commission v Bilbaína de Alquitranes and Others (C-691/15 P-R, not published, EU:C:2016:597). By judgment of 22 November 2017, Commission v Bilbaína de Alquitranes and Others (C-691/15 P, EU:C:2017:882), the Court of Justice dismissed the appeal brought against the judgment of the General Court of 7 October 2015, which therefore became final, and ordered the Commission to pay, in addition to its own costs, those incurred by the applicants, including those relating to the interlocutory proceedings that had given rise to the order of 7 July 2016. The intervener at first instance, GrafTech Iberica, was ordered to bear its own costs.

5 By letters of 29 January 2018, the intervener and the applicants requested the Commission to reimburse a total amount of EUR 227 900.35 in respect of their costs incurred in Cases T-689/13, C-691/15 P-R and C-691/15 P. After several exchanges of letters, the Commission proposed, by letter of 20 July 2018, to make a payment of EUR 84 500 in respect of all the costs and expenses relating to the proceedings before the General Court and the Court of Justice. The intervener and the applicants declined that proposal by letter of 13 September 2018, while making a counter-offer amounting to EUR 160 000. On 15 November 2018 the Commission made a new proposal of EUR 100 000, which was also rejected by the intervener and the applicants by letter of 19 December 2018. Consequently, the intervener and the Commission did not reach any agreement on the amount of recoverable costs.

6 By document lodged at the Court Registry on 1 July 2019, the intervener submitted the present application for taxation of costs in accordance with Article 170(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court.

7 The intervener claims that the Court should:

- fix the amount of recoverable costs in the case giving rise to the judgment of 7 October 2015, Bilbaína de Alquitranes and Others v Commission (T-689/13, not published, EU:T:2015:767) at EUR 10 690.76;

- fix the amount of recoverable costs relating to the present taxation of costs proceedings at EUR 5 000;

- apply to those amounts interest for late payment from the date of service of the order on the application for taxation of costs until the date of actual payment, at the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its principal refinancing operations...