EUR-Lex -  61997TO0276 - EN - Order of the Court of First Instance (Third Chamber) of 13 February 1998. - Guérin automobiles v Commission of the European Communities. - Competition - Action for annulment - Time-limit for bringing proceedings - Manifest inadmissibility of the application. - Case T-276/97.

Summary
Keywords

Actions for annulment - Time-limits - Mandatory - Point from which time starts to run - Notification - Purely formal errors irrelevant

(EC Treaty, Art. 173)

Summary

The two-month time-limit for bringing an action laid down by Article 173 of the Treaty is a matter of public policy which was established in order to ensure that legal positions are clear and certain and to avoid discrimination or arbitrary treatment in the administration of justice. The Court of First Instance may determine of its own motion whether it has been complied with.

In that context, an error in the description of the addressee of a decision which is the subject of an action for annulment is a purely formal error which cannot in any event prevent the application of the time-limits laid down by the Treaty, provided that the addressee of the contested decision was able to see that it was addressed to him.

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