Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions)

1 Actions for damages - Limitation period - Point from which time starts to run - Daily loss of interest on the value of the damage - Irrelevant
(EC Treaty, Art. 215, second para. (now Art. 288, second para., EC); EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 43)
2 Actions for damages - Limitation period - Interruption - Conditions
(EC Treaty, Art. 173 (now, after amendment, Art. 230 EC)and Art. 175 (now Art. 232 EC); EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 43)

1 It is apparent from the second paragraph of Article 215 of the Treaty (now Article 288, second paragraph, EC)that for the Community to incur non-contractual liability and for the right to compensation for damage to arise, a series of requirements must first have been met, concerning the illegality of the alleged conduct of the institution, the reality of the damage and the existence of a causal link between the conduct of the institution and the alleged damage. Time for the purposes of bringing proceedings in matters arising from the liability of the Community cannot start to run before all the requirements governing an obligation to provide compensation for damage are satisfied and in particular before the damage to be made good has materialised.
On the other hand, the limitation period is not prevented from running by the daily loss of interest on the value of the damage in respect of which compensation is claimed before the Court. Interest being calculated on the value of the damage at the date on which it materialised, its purpose is merely to ensure updated compensation for the damage suffered and it must not be confused with the event, within the meaning of Article 43 of the Statute, which constitutes the moment when the limitation period begins to run.
2 The limitation period for proceedings in which it is sought to establish Community liability may be interrupted either by the application brought before the Community judicature, or by a preliminary request addressed to the relevant institution, it being however understood that, in the latter case, interruption only occurs if the request is followed by an application within the time-limits determined by reference to Article 173 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 230 EC)or Article 175 thereof (now Article 232 EC), depending on the case.