ECJ The admissibility of an action for failure to act based on the first paragraph of article 35 is subject in the first place to a finding that the high authority had, under a provision of the treaty or of rules laid down for the implementation thereof, a duty to take a decision or make a recommendation.
The court must of its own motion consider whether the provisions governing the form of applications have been complied with since those provisions affect not only the interests of the parties but also the right of the court to exercise its power of judicial review.
The words ‘brief statement of the grounds’ used in the protocol on the statute of the court of justice and the rules of procedure mean that, although the application need not conform with the phraseology of the first paragraph of article 33, it must specify the nature of the grounds on which the application is based. Although a mere abstract statement of the grounds in the application does not alone satisfy this requirement, the grounds may be expressed in terms of their substance rather than of their legal classification provided that the ground of complaint relied upon is established in relation to the facts which have been set out.
When brought as an alternative to an application for annulment, an application for damages under article 40 of the ecsc treaty is admissible only if it is based on grounds which are independent of those of the application for annulment.
C-19/60, [1961] EUECJ C-19/60
Bailii
European
European
Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.131635