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PARALLEL TEXTS
La Corte conferma le sentenze del Tribunale sulla partecipazione delle società Gascogne Sack Deutschland, Groupe Gascogne e Kendrion a un’intesa sul mercato dei sacchi di plastica industriali
Inglese tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-13-150_en.htm
Italiano tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-13-150_it.htm
Data documento: 26-11-2013
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The Court of Justice confirms the judgments of the General Court on the participation of the companies Gascogne Sack Deutschland, Groupe Gascogne and Kendrion in a cartel in the industrial plastic bags sector
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La Corte conferma le sentenze del Tribunale sulla partecipazione delle società Gascogne Sack Deutschland, Groupe Gascogne e Kendrion a un’intesa sul mercato dei sacchi di plastica industriali
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Those companies may nevertheless bring actions for damages seeking compensation for possible damage which they may have suffered as a result of the excessive length of the proceedings before the General Court
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Tali società possono tuttavia proporre ricorso per ottenere il risarcimento degli eventuali danni subiti in ragione della durata eccessiva del procedimento dinanzi al Tribunale
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In 2005, the Commission imposed fines totalling over €290 million on several undertakings for participating in a cartel in the industrial plastic bags sector.
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Nel 2005 la Commissione ha inflitto ammende di un importo complessivo superiore e 290 milioni di euro a diverse imprese per la loro partecipazione a un’intesa sul mercato dei sacchi di plastica.
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In the Commission’s view, the infringement consisted mainly in (i) the fixing of prices and the establishment of common price calculation models, (ii) the sharing of markets and the allocation of sales quotas, (iii) the assignment of customers, deals and orders and (iv) the exchange of information in Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
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Secondo la Commissione, l’infrazione consisteva principalmente nella fissazione di prezzi e di modalità comuni per il calcolo degli stessi, nella spartizione dei mercati e nell’assegnazione di quote di vendita, nell’attribuzione di clienti, affari e ordinazioni e, infine, nello scambio di informazioni in Belgio, Germania, Spagna, Francia, Lussemburgo e nei Paesi Bassi .
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Certain undertakings which had participated in that cartel brought actions before the General Court for the annulment of the Commission’s decision or for the reduction of the fines imposed on them.
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Alcune imprese che hanno partecipato a tale intesa hanno proposto ricorso dinanzi al Tribunale chiedendo l’annullamento della decisione della Commissione o la riduzione delle ammende ad esse inflitte.
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By its judgments delivered on 16 November 2011, the General Court ruled on some of those actions, dismissing those brought by the companies Kendrion NV, Groupe Gascogne SA and Sachsa Verpackung GmbH (now Gascogne Sack Deutschland GmbH).
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Con le sue sentenze del 16 novembre 2011, il Tribunale ha statuito con riguardo ad una parte di tali ricorsi respingendo quelli proposti dalle società Kendrion NV, Groupe Gascogne SA e Sachsa Verpackung GmbH (divenuta nel frattempo Gascogne Sack Deutschland GmbH).
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Consequently, the amounts of the fines imposed on those companies remained unchanged (€34 million on Kendrion, €9.9 million on Gascogne Groupe and €13.2 million on Sachsa Verpackung).
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Gli importi delle ammende inflitte a tali società sono quindi rimasti invariati (34 milioni di euro per la Kendrion, 9,9 milioni di euro per la Gascogne Groupe e 13,2 milioni di euro per la Sacha Verpackung).
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Those three undertakings brought appeals before the Court of Justice against the judgments of the General Court.
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Queste tre imprese hanno proposto ricorsi avverso le sentenze del Tribunale dinanzi alla Corte di giustizia.
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In its judgments in those appeals delivered today, the Court of Justice notes, first of all, that when a parent company has a 100% shareholding in a subsidiary which has infringed the competition rules, there is a simple presumption that the parent company does in fact exercise a decisive influence over the conduct of its subsidiary.
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Nelle sentenze odierne la Corte ricorda, anzitutto, che, quando una società controllante detiene il 100 % del capitale della sua controllata, che ha commesso un’infrazione alle regole della concorrenza, sussiste la presunzione semplice secondo cui la controllante esercita effettivamente un’influenza determinante sul comportamento della sua controllata.
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Therefore, the Commission is able to regard the parent company as jointly and severally liable for payment of the fine imposed on its subsidiary.
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In tal senso, la Commissione può considerare la controllante solidalmente responsabile del pagamento dell’ammenda inflitta alla sua controllata.
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That is not, however, the case if the parent company adduces sufficient evidence to show that its subsidiary acts independently on the market.
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La situazione cambia, tuttavia, se la società controllante apporta elementi di prova che dimostrino che la sua controllata ha un comportamento autonomo sul mercato.
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However, since Groupe Gascogne and Kendrion failed to adduce such evidence, the Court confirms that the Commission was entitled to attribute liability to them for the infringement committed by their respective subsidiaries, namely Sachsa Verpackung and Fardem Packaging.
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Poiché la Groupe Gascogne e la Kendrion, tuttavia, non sono riuscite ad apportare tale prova, la Corte conferma che la Commissione aveva potuto imputare loro la responsabilità per l’infrazione commessa dalla loro rispettiva controllata, vale a dire la Sacha Verpackung e la Fardem Packaging.
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The Court also points out that the fact that the amount of the fine imposed on Kendrion (€34 million) is much higher than that imposed on its subsidiary (€2.2 million) is because, at the date of adoption of the Commission’s decision on the cartel in question, the two companies no longer constituted the same undertaking.
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La Corte rileva parimenti che il fatto che l’importo dell’ammenda inflitta alla Kendrion (34 milioni di euro) superi di molto quello dell’ammenda inflitta alla sua controllata (2,2 milioni di euro) si spiega con la circostanza che, alla data di adozione della decisione della Commissione sull’intesa, le due società non costituivano più la medesima impresa.
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Thus, after Kendrion sold its subsidiary, the maximum amount of the fine that could be imposed for participating in a cartel, which corresponds to 10% of the annual turnover of the company concerned, had to be calculated differently for each of the two companies.
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In tal senso, dopo la vendita della sua controllata da parte della Kendrion, l’importo massimo dell’ammenda imponibile per la partecipazione ad un’intesa, pari al 10 % del fatturato annuo della società interessata, deve essere calcolato in modi differenti per ciascuna delle due società.
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Next, the Court considers whether the argument of the three companies, according to which the duration of the proceedings before the General Court was excessively lengthy and, therefore, caused them loss, may have a bearing on the present cases.
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La Corte esamina quindi se l’argomento delle tre società secondo cui la durata del procedimento dinanzi al Tribunale sarebbe stata eccessivamente lunga e, pertanto, le avrebbe danneggiate, sia rilevante nei presenti procedimenti.
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In that regard, the Court notes, first, that where the excessive length of the proceedings does not affect their outcome, failure to deliver judgment within a reasonable time cannot lead to the setting aside of the judgment under appeal in the context of appeal proceedings.
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La Corte ricorda, in primo luogo, che, in mancanza di incidenza della durata eccessiva del procedimento sulla soluzione della controversia, il mancato rispetto di una durata ragionevole del procedimento non può comportare l’annullamento della sentenza impugnata nell’ambito di un’impugnazione.
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In the present case, the companies concerned have not provided any evidence to the Court demonstrating that a failure by the General Court to adjudicate within a reasonable time could have affected the outcome of the disputes before it.
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Orbene, nella specie, le società interessate non hanno fornito alla Corte alcun indizio secondo cui il mancato rispetto, da parte del Tribunale, di una durata ragionevole del procedimento avrebbe potuto avere un’incidenza sulla soluzione delle controversie che quest’ultimo era chiamato a decidere.
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Consequently, the Court dismisses the companies’ claims seeking, on that ground, to have the judgments of the General Court set aside.
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Conseguentemente, la Corte rigetta le domande di annullamento, per questo motivo, delle sentenze del Tribunale.
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Secondly, the Court points out that an application for damages brought against the European Union constitutes an effective remedy of general application for asserting and penalising such a breach, since such a claim can cover all the situations where a reasonable period of time has been exceeded in proceedings.
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In secondo luogo, la Corte rileva che una domanda di risarcimento danni proposta nei confronti dell’Unione, in quanto può ricomprendere tutte le situazioni di superamento di un termine ragionevole nel contesto di un procedimento, costituisce un rimedio effettivo e di applicazione generale per far valere e sanzionare tale violazione.
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It follows that a claim for compensation for the damage caused by the failure by the General Court to adjudicate within a reasonable time may not be made directly to the Court of Justice in the context of an appeal, but must be brought before the General Court itself, by way of an action for damages.
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Ne deduce che la domanda intesa ad ottenere il risarcimento del danno causato dalla violazione, da parte del Tribunale, del termine ragionevole del procedimento, non può essere presentata direttamente alla Corte nel contesto di un’impugnazione, ma deve essere proposta dinanzi al Tribunale stesso, nella forma di un ricorso per risarcimento danni.
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In such an action, it will be for the General Court to appraise, in the light of the circumstances specific to each case, whether it has observed the reasonable time principle.
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Nel contesto di tale ricorso, spetterà al Tribunale valutare, in funzione delle circostanze proprie di ogni procedimento, se è stato rispettato il principio del termine ragionevole.
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It will also be for the General Court to assess whether the parties concerned have actually suffered harm because their right to effective legal protection has been breached.
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Spetterà parimenti al Tribunale valutare se le parti interessate hanno realmente subito danni a causa della violazione del loro diritto alla tutela giurisdizionale effettiva.
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In that context, the Court makes clear that, when determining actions for damages, the General Court must take into consideration the general principles applicable in the legal systems of the Member States for actions based on similar breaches.
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La Corte sottolinea che, nella decisione dei ricorsi per risarcimento danni, il Tribunale dovrà prendere in considerazione i principi generali applicabili negli ordinamenti giuridici degli Stati membri per decidere i ricorsi fondati su siffatte violazioni.
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It must, in particular, ascertain whether it is possible to identify, in addition to any material loss, any other type of harm sustained by the party affected by the excessive period, which should, where appropriate, be suitably compensated.
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Tale giudice dovrà, in particolare, vedere se sia possibile identificare, oltre all’esistenza di un danno materiale, quella di un danno immateriale, che sarebbe stato subito dalle parti a causa del superamento del termine e che dovrebbe, eventualmente, essere oggetto di adeguato risarcimento.
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That said, the Court finds that, in the present case, the length of the proceedings before the General Court, which amounted to approximately 5 years and 9 months, cannot be justified by any of the circumstances in connection with those cases.
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La Corte afferma quindi che, nel caso di specie, la durata della trattazione, da parte del Tribunale, dei procedimenti in questione, pari a quasi 5 anni e 9 mesi, non può trovare giustificazione in alcuna delle circostanze relative a tali procedimenti.
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The excessive length of the proceedings cannot be explained by the complexity of the dispute, the conduct of the parties or the specific features of the procedures.
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Infatti, né la complessità delle controversie, né il comportamento delle parti, né la peculiarità dei procedimenti ne spiegano la durata eccessiva.
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Accordingly, the Court concludes that the procedures in the General Court breached the right of the parties to have their case heard within a reasonable time conferred on them by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
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In tali circostanze la Corte conclude che i procedimenti svolti dinanzi al Tribunale hanno violato il diritto che la Carta dei diritti fondamentali dell’Unione europea conferisce alle parti, che il loro procedimento sia trattato entro un termine ragionevole.
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The Court also notes that the breach of that right is sufficiently serious and may therefore give rise to liability on the part of the European Union for the damage arising therefrom.
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La Corte rileva inoltre che la violazione di tale diritto è sufficientemente qualificata e può pertanto far sorgere la responsabilità dell’Unione per i danni che ne sarebbero derivati.
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In those circumstances, the Court dismisses the appeals of the three undertakings in their entirety.
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Di conseguenza, la Corte respinge integralmente le impugnazioni delle tre imprese.
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NOTE:
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IMPORTANTE:
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An appeal, on a point or points of law only, may be brought before the Court of Justice against a judgment or order of the General Court.
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Avverso le sentenze o ordinanze del Tribunale può essere presentata impugnazione alla Corte di giustizia, limitatamente alle questioni di diritto.
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In principle, the appeal does not have suspensive effect.
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In linea di principio, l'impugnazione non ha effetti sospensivi.
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If the appeal is admissible and well founded, the Court of Justice sets aside the judgment of the General Court.
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Se essa è ricevibile e fondata, la Corte annulla la decisione del Tribunale.
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Where the state of the proceedings so permits, the Court of Justice may itself give final judgment in the case.
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Nel caso in cui la causa sia matura per essere decisa, la Corte stessa può pronunciarsi definitivamente sulla controversia;
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Otherwise, it refers the case back to the General Court, which is bound by the decision given by the Court of Justice on the appeal.
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in caso contrario, rinvia la causa al Tribunale, vincolato dalla decisione emanata dalla Corte in sede di impugnazione |
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LISTEN WITH READSPEAKER
The Court of Justice confirms the judgments of the
General Court on the participation of the companies Gascogne Sack Deutschland,
Groupe Gascogne and Kendrion in a cartel in the industrial plastic bags sector
Those companies may nevertheless bring actions for damages seeking
compensation for possible damage which they may have suffered as a result of the
excessive length of the proceedings before the General Court
In 2005, the Commission imposed fines totalling over €290 million on several
undertakings for participating in a cartel in the industrial plastic bags
sector.
In the Commission’s view, the infringement consisted mainly in (i) the fixing
of prices and the establishment of common price calculation models, (ii) the
sharing of markets and the allocation of sales quotas, (iii) the assignment of
customers, deals and orders and (iv) the exchange of information in Belgium,
Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Certain undertakings which had participated in that cartel brought actions
before the General Court for the annulment of the Commission’s decision or for
the reduction of the fines imposed on them.
By its judgments delivered on 16 November 2011, the General Court ruled on
some of those actions, dismissing those brought by the companies Kendrion NV,
Groupe Gascogne SA and Sachsa Verpackung GmbH (now Gascogne Sack Deutschland
GmbH).
Consequently, the amounts of the fines imposed on those companies remained
unchanged (€34 million on Kendrion, €9.9 million on Gascogne Groupe and €13.2
million on Sachsa Verpackung).
Those three undertakings brought appeals before the Court of Justice against
the judgments of the General Court.
In its judgments in those appeals delivered today, the Court of Justice
notes, first of all, that when a parent company has a 100% shareholding in a
subsidiary which has infringed the competition rules, there is a simple
presumption that the parent company does in fact exercise a decisive influence
over the conduct of its subsidiary.
Therefore, the Commission is able to regard the parent company as jointly and
severally liable for payment of the fine imposed on its subsidiary.
That is not, however, the case if the parent company adduces sufficient
evidence to show that its subsidiary acts independently on the market.
However, since Groupe Gascogne and Kendrion failed to adduce such evidence,
the Court confirms that the Commission was entitled to attribute liability to
them for the infringement committed by their respective subsidiaries, namely
Sachsa Verpackung and Fardem Packaging.
The Court also points out that the fact that the amount of the fine imposed
on Kendrion (€34 million) is much higher than that imposed on its subsidiary
(€2.2 million) is because, at the date of adoption of the Commission’s decision
on the cartel in question, the two companies no longer constituted the same
undertaking.
Thus, after Kendrion sold its subsidiary, the maximum amount of the fine that
could be imposed for participating in a cartel, which corresponds to 10% of the
annual turnover of the company concerned, had to be calculated differently for
each of the two companies.
Next, the Court considers whether the argument of the three companies,
according to which the duration of the proceedings before the General Court was
excessively lengthy and, therefore, caused them loss, may have a bearing on the
present cases.
In that regard, the Court notes, first, that where the excessive length of
the proceedings does not affect their outcome, failure to deliver judgment
within a reasonable time cannot lead to the setting aside of the judgment under
appeal in the context of appeal proceedings.
In the present case, the companies concerned have not provided any evidence
to the Court demonstrating that a failure by the General Court to adjudicate
within a reasonable time could have affected the outcome of the disputes before
it.
Consequently, the Court dismisses the companies’ claims seeking, on that
ground, to have the judgments of the General Court set aside.
Secondly, the Court points out that an application for damages brought
against the European Union constitutes an effective remedy of general
application for asserting and penalising such a breach, since such a claim can
cover all the situations where a reasonable period of time has been exceeded in
proceedings.
It follows that a claim for compensation for the damage caused by the failure
by the General Court to adjudicate within a reasonable time may not be made
directly to the Court of Justice in the context of an appeal, but must be
brought before the General Court itself, by way of an action for damages.
In such an action, it will be for the General Court to appraise, in the light
of the circumstances specific to each case, whether it has observed the
reasonable time principle.
It will also be for the General Court to assess whether the parties concerned
have actually suffered harm because their right to effective legal protection
has been breached.
In that context, the Court makes clear that, when determining actions for
damages, the General Court must take into consideration the general principles
applicable in the legal systems of the Member States for actions based on
similar breaches.
It must, in particular, ascertain whether it is possible to identify, in
addition to any material loss, any other type of harm sustained by the party
affected by the excessive period, which should, where appropriate, be suitably
compensated.
That said, the Court finds that, in the present case, the length of the
proceedings before the General Court, which amounted to approximately 5 years
and 9 months, cannot be justified by any of the circumstances in connection with
those cases.
The excessive length of the proceedings cannot be explained by the complexity
of the dispute, the conduct of the parties or the specific features of the
procedures.
Accordingly, the Court concludes that the procedures in the General Court
breached the right of the parties to have their case heard within a reasonable
time conferred on them by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union.
The Court also notes that the breach of that right is sufficiently serious
and may therefore give rise to liability on the part of the European Union for
the damage arising therefrom.
In those circumstances, the Court dismisses the appeals of the three
undertakings in their entirety.
NOTE:
An appeal, on a point or points of law only, may be brought before the Court
of Justice against a judgment or order of the General Court.
In principle, the appeal does not have suspensive effect.
If the appeal is admissible and well founded, the Court of Justice sets aside
the judgment of the General Court.
Where the state of the proceedings so permits, the Court of Justice may
itself give final judgment in the case.
Otherwise, it refers the case back to the General Court, which is bound by
the decision given by the Court of Justice on the appeal.
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