CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 29 août 2003

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s48F8B750 { font-size:8pt; display:none } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s94935B0F { width:389.85pt; display:inline-block } .s23A41E03 { width:36pt; display:inline-block } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s66E9FC38 { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#000000 } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS [Note1]                                                                                                                                             508   16.10.2003   Press release issued by the Registrar   Cancellation of hearing in the case   Senator Lines GmbH v the 15 Member States of the European Union       The President of the European Court of Human Rights has decided to cancel the hearing in the case Senator Lines GmbH v the 15 Member States of the European Union (application no. 56672/00) which had been fixed for 22 October 2003.   The decision to cancel the hearing was taken in the light of the judgment [1] of the Court of First Instance (CFI) of the European Court of Justice setting aside a fine imposed by the European Commission on Senator Lines GmbH and other companies.   Principal Facts   Senator Lines GmbH is a maritime transport firm, a limited company incorporated under German law, based in Bremen (Germany).   On 16 September 1998 Senator Lines GmbH and 15 other maritime transport companies were fined a total of 273 million euros by the European Commission for infringing European Community Treaty competition rules (distortion of competition and abuse of a dominant position by shipping companies forming a conference).   The companies appealed to the CFI of the Court of Justice. Requests by Senator Lines GmbH for payment of the fine to be suspended pending the outcome of the appeal were rejected by the CFI on 21   July 1999 and by the Court of Justice on 14 December 1999. The European Commission later obtained an enforcement order ( Vollstreckungsklausel ) in Germany, but stated that it would not enforce the fine while proceedings at the European Court of Human Rights were pending.   Before the European Court of Human Rights, Senator Lines GmbH alleged a violation of Article 6 (access to court) of the European Convention on Human Rights, in that it was required to pay the fine before a decision was taken in the substantive proceedings before the Court of Justice. It claimed that this would have resulted in the insolvency and liquidation of the company before the substantive issues were determined.   ***   Further information about the Court can be found on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments. More detailed information about the Court and its activities can be found on its Internet site.   [1] CFI judgment of 30 September 2003 [Note1]   Press release for general subjects . To be saved in PowerDocs as follows: (1) Document Name: subject [+ date] +   language (e.g. Election judges 31012003E ), (2) Document Type: PR, (3) Group: PRESS, (4) Subject   : GEN .