Judgment_paragraph 80 · Wilhelm Pelle and Ernst-Reinhard Konrad v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities (T-8/95, T-9/95)

80First, to that end, it must be noted that the applicants sent a prior application to the defendants, which interrupted the five-year limitation period upon receipt of that application by either of the two institutions. It follows from Article 43 of the Statute, and from the case-law, that the date of receipt of the application determines the interruption of limitation and not, as claimed by the defendants, the date on which the institution concerned replied to the application (see, to that effect, van den Berg, cited in paragraph 27 above, paragraph 101, and Hartmann v Council and Commission, cited in paragraph 46 above, paragraph 139).