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URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/EUECJ/1993/C13192.html
Cite as: [1993] ECR I-2573, [1993] EUECJ C-131/92

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61992O0131
Order of the Court of 24 May 1993.
Thierry Arnaud and others v Council of the European Communities.
Fisheries - Prohibition on driftnets of more than 2.5 km in length - Limited derogation in favour of tuna fishermen - Action for annulment brought by fishermen - Inadmissibility.
Case C-131/92.
European Court reports 1993 Page I-02573

++++
Actions for annulment of measures ° Natural or legal persons ° Measures of direct and individual concern to them ° Regulation introducing a derogation from technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources
(EEC Treaty, Art. 173, second para.; Council Regulation No 345/92)

The possibility of determining more or less precisely the number or even the identity of the persons to whom a measure applies by no means implies that it must be regarded as being of individual concern to them within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 173 of the Treaty, as long as it is established that such application takes effect by virtue of an objective legal or factual situation defined by the act adopting the measure in question. In order for the measure to be of individual concern to the persons to whom it applies, it must affect their legal position by reason of a factual situation which differentiates them from all other persons and distinguishes them individually in the same way as a person to whom it is addressed.
A regulation which lays down a transitional measure for the benefit of fishermen who used a certain fishing technique before the prohibition of driftnets exceeding a given length applies to objectively determined situations and produces legal effects for classes of persons envisaged in a general and abstract manner. It concerns those fishermen only in their objective capacity as fishermen using a certain fishing technique in the same way as any other economic operator in the same circumstances.

Costs
19 Under Article 69(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs. Since the applicants have been unsuccessful, they must be ordered to pay the costs. In accordance with the first indent of Article 69(4) of the Rules of Procedure, the Commission, as intervener, must be ordered to bear its own costs.

On those grounds,
THE COURT
hereby:
1. Dismisses the application as inadmissible;
2. Orders the applicants to pay the costs;
3. Orders the Commission, as intervener, to bear its own costs.
Luxembourg, 24 May 1993.