Avis juridique important

Order of the President of the Second Chamber of the Court of First Instance of 16 July 1999. - Hortiplant SAT v Commission of the European Communities. - Procedure for interim relief - Urgency. - Case T-143/99 R. European Court reports 1999 Page II-02451

Summary

Applications for interim measures - Suspension of operation of a measure - Interim relief - Conditions for granting - Urgency - Serious and irreparable damage which may be imminent - Meaning - Burden of proof

(EC Treaty, Arts 185 and 186 (now Arts 242 EC and 243 EC); Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 104(2))

$$The urgency of an application for interim measures must be assessed in relation to the necessity for an interim order to prevent serious and irreparable harm to the party applying for those measures. It is for the party seeking the measures to prove that he cannot wait for the outcome of the main proceedings without suffering harm of that nature.

To be able to determine whether the harm which the applicant fears is serious and irreparable and therefore provides grounds for, exceptionally, suspending the operation of a decision, the court hearing the application must have hard evidence allowing it to determine the precise consequences which the absence of the measures applied for would in all probability entail. However, it does not have to be established with absolute certainty that the harm invoked is imminent. It is sufficient that the harm, particularly when it depends on the occurrence of a number of factors, should be foreseeable with a sufficient degree of probability.