British Airways plc, Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark-Norway-Sweden, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV, Air UK Ltd, Euralair international, TAT European Airlines SA and British Midland Airways Ltd v Commission of the European Communities (T-371/94, T-394/94)
law://eu/cjeu/1994/t-371-94/para_72@2026-11-15
Key facts
Court
General Court · Second Chamber, sitting with five Judges
British Airways plc; Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark-Norway-Sweden and 5 moreKoninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV; Air UK Ltd; Euralair International; TAT European Airlines; British Midland Airways Ltd
Defendant
Commission of the European Communities
Rapporteur
Lenaerts
Bench
4 judgesK. Lenaerts, C. P. Briët, A. Kalogeropoulos, A. Potocki
72The complaint that the Commission failed to seek assistance from external experts when drafting the contested decision is manifestly lacking any foundation, since no provision of the Treaty or of Community legislation imposes any such obligation on it. It should be added that the Commission was, in any event, relatively well informed on the air transport sector before it adopted the contested decision. In that connection, it had already familiarised itself with the air transport situation, which was dealt with, in particular, in the report entitled ‘Expanding Horizons’ published at the beginning of 1994 by the ‘Comité des Sages’ (Committee of Wise Men), in the programme ‘The way forward for civil aviation in Europe’, and in the publications of the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and the Association of European Airlines (AEA). In addition, the Commission had adopted other decisions within the air transport sector, such as the Sabena, Aer Lingus and TAP decisions (cited above in paragraph 55). Finally, nothing in the present case indicates that the Commission had need of external expert assistance.