The General Court has ordered the European Commission to pay damages to Idromacchine Srl ("Idromacchine"), a third party in state aid proceedings, for disclosing its name and detrimental information relating to it in a Commission decision that was published in the Official Journal.
In 2002, Idromacchine was requested to supply four tanks for the transportation of petroleum gas in the framework of a shipbuilding project which was subject to state aid. The aid would be granted by the Commission to all ships delivered within three years of the signed final contract. Due to the non-conformity of Idromacchine's tanks with the imposed certification standards, the shipbuilding project incurred a six-month delay and the Italian government had to lodge a request for extension of the aid with the Commission. In its decision over the extension of the aid, published in the Official Journal, the Commission mentioned Idromacchine by name and referred to its failure to deliver the tanks according to the qualitative criteria stipulated in the contract.
Idromacchine and two of its shareholders brought a damages claim against the Commission on the basis of Article 340 TFEU to compensate the material and non-material damage suffered as a result of the publication of detrimental information relating to Idromacchine in the Commission decision. The applicants argued first that the Commission had breached its duty of diligence and the applicants' rights of defence by refusing to grant Idromacchine a right to reply before publication. The second part of the applicants' claim focused on the disclosure of detrimental business information in violation of the
The General Court partially upheld Idromacchine's action for damages. On the one hand, the General Court rejected the applicants' procedural arguments, as it was of the opinion that the Commission is under no obligation to hear interested parties at the preliminary examination stage of state aid proceedings. On the other hand, the General Court agreed with the applicants that the published information was of a confidential and prejudicial nature, harming the company's commercial interests and reputation. As a result, the General Court found that the Commission had infringed the principles of professional secrecy and proportionality by disclosing Idromacchine's name and its contractual failure in the Commission decision under scrutiny. Consequently, the Commission was ordered to pay damages in the amount of € 20,000 to Idromacchine. Its shareholders were, however, not awarded damages as the sole fact that they are shareholders and main directors of Idromacchine was not deemed sufficient to establish personal damage to their image or reputation.
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