Commission of the European Communities v Council of the European Communities.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Celex Number: 61987CJ0383
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:1988:388
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Date: 12 July 1988
• Procedure Type: Recours en carence - non-lieu à statuer
• Docket Number: 383/87

Judgment of the Court of 12 July 1988. - Commission of the European Communities v Council of the European Communities. - Budgetary procedure: compliance with the time-table laid down by the Treaty. - Case 383/87.

European Court reports 1988 Page 04051

Summary Parties Grounds Decision on costs Operative part

Keywords

++++

Action for failure to act - Repair of failure to act after institution of proceedings - Subject-matter of action ceasing to exist - No need to give a decision

( EEC Treaty, Arts 175 and 176 )

Summary

The remedy provided for in Article 175 of the Treaty is founded on the premiss that the unlawful inaction of the Council or of the Commission enables the other institutions and the Member States and, in certain circumstances, private persons to bring the matter before the Court in order to obtain a declaration that the failure to act is contrary to the Treaty, in so far as it has not been repaired by the institution concerned . The effect of that declaration under Article 176 is that the defendant institution is required to take the necessary measures to comply with the judgment of the Court, without prejudice to any actions to establish non-contractual liability to which the aforesaid declaration may give rise .

Where the act whose absence constitutes the subject-matter of the proceedings was adopted after the action was brought but before judgment a declaration by the Court to the effect that the initial failure to act is unlawful can no longer bring about the consequences prescribed by Article 176 . It follows that in such a case, as in cases where the defendant institution has responded within a period of two months after being called upon to act, the subject-matter of the action has ceased to exist, so that there is no longer any need to give a decision .

Parties

In Case 383/87

Commission of the European Communities, represented by Bernard Paulin, Senior Legal Adviser, and John Forman, Legal Adviser, both members of its Legal Department, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office of G . Kremlis, a member of the Legal Department of the Commission, Jean Monnet Building, Kirchberg,

applicant,

v

Council of the European Communities, represented by Arthur Alan Dashwood, Director of its Legal Department, and Félix van Craeyenest, Principal Administrator in its Legal Department, acting as Agents with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Jorn Kaeser, Manager of the Legal Directorate of the European Investment Bank, 100 boulevard Konrad...