Judgment_paragraph 61 · Alessandro Accorinti and Others v European Central Bank (T-79/13)

61Next, it should be emphasised that an action for damages is an autonomous form of action, with a particular purpose to fulfil within the system of legal remedies and subject to conditions of use dictated by its specific purpose. Whereas actions for annulment and for failure to act seek a declaration that a legally binding measure is unlawful or that such a measure has not been taken, an action for damages seeks compensation for damage resulting from a measure or from unlawful conduct, attributable to an EU institution or body (see judgment of 23 March 2004 in Ombudsman v Lamberts, C‑234/02 P, ECR, EU:C:2004:174, paragraph 59 and the case-law cited; judgments of 27 November 2007 in Pitsiorlas v Council and ECB, T‑3/00 and T‑337/04, ECR, EU:T:2007:357, paragraph 283, and of 3 March 2010 in Artegodan v Commission, T‑429/05, ECR, EU:T:2010:60, paragraph 50). That autonomy of action cannot be called into question by the mere fact that an applicant decides to bring actions for annulment and for damages successively; and the fact that an action for annulment is declared inadmissible does not mean that an action for damages brought subsequently is inadmissible on the sole ground that those actions are based on similar, or even identical, pleas of illegality. Such an interpretation would run counter to the very principle of the autonomy of remedies and would therefore deprive Article 268 TFEU, read with the third paragraph of Article 340 TFEU, of its practical effect.