Summary
Keywords
1 Procedure - Costs - Taxation - Object
(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 91(b) and 92(1))
2 Procedure - Costs - Taxation - Factors to be taken into account
(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 91(b) and 92(1))
3 Procedure - Costs - Taxation - Recoverable costs - Intervener
(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 91(b) and 92(1))
Summary
1 In proceedings concerning the taxation of costs, the Community judicature is not empowered to tax the fees payable by the parties to their own lawyers but may determine the amount of those fees which may be recovered from the party ordered to pay the costs.
2 Since Community law does not contain any provisions laying down a scale of fees, the Community judicature must consider all the facts of the case, taking into account the purpose and nature of the proceedings, their significance from the point of view of Community law, as well as the difficulties presented by the case, the amount of work generated by the dispute for the agents and advisers involved and the financial interest which the parties had in the proceedings; in so doing, it is not obliged to take account of any national scales of lawyers' fees or any agreement in relation to fees concluded between the party concerned and his agents or advisers.
3 In proceedings concerning the taxation of costs, where the action has been brought by an intervener, it must be borne in mind that, since an intervention is, by definition, subordinate to the main action, only in exceptional cases will it present the same difficulties.
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