Brussels, 17/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - In her conclusions made on Thursday 17 January, the Advocate General, Juliane Kokott, states that the General Court was right to reject the action which the Inuit had brought against the ban on trade in seal products in the EU as being inadmissible. The Advocate General also believes the Court was right in finding that the easing in the Lisbon Treaty of the conditions for individuals to bring actions before the European courts against EU acts of general application does not apply to legislative acts.
A body representing the interests of the Canadian Inuit and producers of and traders in seal products asked the EU Courts to annul the general ban on trade in seal products in the EU, which the EU legislature, imposed in September 2009 in the form of a Regulation.
The centre of interest in the present case is the question whether the Inuit and their co-appellants are at all entitled to bring a direct action against that regulation before the EU courts. In support of their action the appellants rely in particular on an amendment introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, which enables natural and legal persons to bring an action for annulment also against a “regulatory act, which is of direct concern to them and does not entail implementing measures”.
In September 2011 the General Court dismissed their action as being inadmissible. In the Court's view, the appellants could not contest the regulation in dispute on the basis of the amendment to the Lisbon Treaty, as it did not apply to legislative acts such as the act at issue. The appellants brought an appeal against that order before the Court of Justice. Advocate General Kokott proposes that the Court dismiss the appeal. She states that a legislative act cannot be regarded as a regulatory act. The less strict conditions in the Lisbon Treaty under which individuals may bring actions before the EU Courts against such EU acts of general application do not therefore apply to the present case. (LC/transl.fl)