Judgment_paragraph 55 · Commission of the European Communities v AssiDomän Kraft Products AB, Iggesunds Bruk AB, Korsnäs AB, MoDo Paper AB, Södra Cell AB, Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB and Svenska Cellulosa AB (C-310/97 P)

55The only purpose of considering the grounds of the judgment which set out the precise reasons for the illegality found by the Community Court (see, in particular, the judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-415/96 Spain v Commission [1998] ECR I-6993, paragraph 31) is to determine the exact meaning of the ruling made in the operative part of the judgment. The authority of a ground of a judgment annulling a measure cannot apply to the situation of persons who were not parties to the proceedings and with regard to whom the judgment cannot therefore have decided anything whatever.