本件の原告 Atlanta AG は、中南米よりECにバナナを輸入する業者であるが、ECの バナナ市場規則 によって取引が制限され、（子会社が）損害を被ったとして、ECにその賠償を求めた。なお、同人は、バナナ市場規則の有効性を争い、また、その執行の停止を求め 、EC裁判所に提訴しているが（それぞれ、Case C-286/93、Case C-286/93 R）、EC裁判所は、いずれも不適法として却下している。もっとも、本件の対象である損害賠償請求（Case C-286/93 R）は却下されず、実体問題について審理されることになったが、後に、管轄権は第1審裁判所に移されている（Case T-521/93）。

　訴えを基礎付けるため、原告は14の理由を挙げているが、後に、以下の4点を強調している。

　�@ 差別禁止原則 違反

　�A 信頼保護原則 違反

　1996年12月11日の判決において、第1審裁判所は、これらの主張をすべて退け、ECの損害賠償責任を否認した。その詳細は以下の通りである。

�@ 差別禁止原則違反 について

46 It is settled case-law that the principle of non-discrimination is one of the fundamental principles of Community law (see Case C-280/93 Germany v Council, paragraph 67). This principle requires that comparable situations should not be treated in a different manner unless the difference in treatment is objectively justified. As was found in Case C-280/93 Germany v Council, the situations of the categories of traders amongst whom the tariff quota was divided were not comparable before Regulation No 404/93 was adopted. Those categories of traders were also affected differently by the measures adopted and the Court of Justice specifically recognised that traders who had traditionally been supplied by third country bananas would now find their import possibilities restricted. However, the Court considered that such a difference in treatment appeared to be inherent in the objective of integrating previously compartmentalised markets and in providing a guarantee of disposal of Community production and traditional ACP production (paragraph 74). The Court also found that the machinery for dividing the tariff quota among the various categories of traders was intended to encourage traders in Community and traditional ACP bananas to obtain supplies of third country bananas and to encourage importers of third country bananas to distribute Community and ACP bananas (paragraph 83). It thus recognised that Regulation No 404/93 was not intended to establish identical treatment between the various categories of traders.

47 The Court also found that it was necessary for Regulation No 404/93 to restrict the volume of imports of third country bananas into the Community in connection with the introduction of a common organisation of the market (paragraph 82).
　

48 Finally, the Court held that it had not been demonstrated that the Council adopted measures which were manifestly inappropriate for achieving the objective pursued by Regulation No 404/93 (paragraph 95).

49 It should be added that in Case C-466/93 Atlanta Fruchthandelsgesellschaft the Court of Justice held that the difficulties in applying Regulation No 404/93 to which the applicants had referred could not affect the validity of the regulation (paragraph 11). Similarly, the consequences in practice of the adoption of Regulation No 404/93 to which the applicants refer cannot be taken into consideration by this Court in this case, since it must examine the question of the legality of Regulation No 404/93 only in the light of the pleas advanced by the applicants.
　

50 The Court therefore finds that the applicants have not proved that the defendant institutions failed to observe the principle of non-discrimination. This plea must therefore be dismissed as unfounded.'
　

�A 信頼保護原則違反について

55 The principle of protection of legitimate expectations is one of the fundamental principles of the Community legal order. Nevertheless, traders cannot have a legitimate expectation that an existing situation which is capable of being altered by the Community institutions in the exercise of their discretionary power will be maintained. This is particularly true in an area such as the common organisation of the markets the objectives of which require constant adjustments in order to meet changes in economic circumstances (see, in particular, Joined Cases C-133/93, C-300/93 and C-362/93 Crispoltoni [1994] ECR I-4863, paragraph 57). Even though Germany did not rely on the principle of protection of legitimate expectations as one of its pleas in Case C-280/93 Germany v Council, the Court of Justice did confirm in that judgment that a trader could not claim an acquired right or even a legitimate expectation to the effect that an existing situation which was capable of being altered by decisions taken by the Community institutions within the limits of their discretionary power would be maintained (paragraph 80).

56 Moreover, the possibility of a breach of that principle was raised in the reference made by the national court in Case C-466/93 Atlanta Fruchthandelsgesellschaft. Nevertheless, the Court of Justice, when finding that the national court had not raised any grounds of invalidity such as to affect the assessment of the validity of Regulation No 404/93, considered that there had been no such breach.
　

57 In the absence of specific assurances given by the administration, no one may claim a breach of the principle of protection of legitimate expectations (see Case T-571/93 Lefebvre and Others v Commission [1995] ECR II-2379, paragraph 72). The applicants have adduced no evidence of such assurances either in the Commission's previous practice or in the specific context of the introduction of the common organisation of the markets in question here.
58 It follows that the applicants have not established a breach of the principle of protection of legitimate expectations in the present case and that the plea of breach of this principle must be dismissed.'
　

�B 経済活動の自由の侵害について

62 It is settled case-law that freedom to pursue an economic activity is one of the general principles of Community law. It is not, however, an absolute prerogative and must be considered in relation to its social function. It confers the assurance that a trader will not be arbitrarily deprived of the right to pursue his activity but it does not guarantee him a particular volume of business or a specific share of a given market. The guarantees accorded to traders cannot in any event be extended to protect mere commercial interests or opportunities, the uncertainties of which are part of the very essence of economic activity (see Case 4/73 Nold v Commission [1974] ECR 491, paragraph 14). It follows that restrictions may be placed on the freedom to pursue an economic activity, particularly in a common market organisation, provided that they are required in order to meet objectives of general interest pursued by the Community and that they do not constitute a disproportionate and intolerable interference which entrenches upon the very substance of the right guaranteed (see Case 265/87 Schräder v Hauptzollamt Gronau [1989] ECR 2237, paragraph 15).

63 In this regard, it should be noted that the Court of Justice has already held in Case C-280/93 Germany v Council that the restriction imposed by Regulation No 404/93 on the freedom of traditional traders in third country bananas to pursue their trade or business met objectives of general Community interest and did not impair the very substance of that right (paragraph 87). Again, it should be recalled that in Case C-466/93 Atlanta Fruchthandelsgesellschaft the Court observed that, while the applicants had referred to difficulties in applying Regulation No 404/93 and the resulting consequences for their activities, such circumstances could not affect the validity of the regulation (paragraph 11).
　

64 The plea of breach of the fundamental right to pursue an economic activity must therefore be dismissed as unfounded.

　

�C 防御権の侵害について　

70 Contrary to the applicants' argument, the right to be heard in an administrative procedure affecting a specific person cannot be transposed to the context of a legislative process leading to the adoption of general laws. The judgment in CB and Europay v Commission, cited above, followed a line of settled authority in competition law, according to which undertakings suspected of having infringed rules of the Treaty must be heard before any measures, and particularly sanctions, are taken against them. However, that case-law must be considered in its proper context and should not be extended to the context of a Community legislative process culminating in the enactment of legislation involving a choice of economic policy and applying to the generality of the traders concerned.

71 In the context of a procedure for the adoption of a Community act based on an article of the Treaty, the only obligations of consultation incumbent on the Community legislature are those laid down in the article in question. In its judgment in Case 138/79 Roquette Frères v Council [1980] ECR 3333, the Court of Justice held that the obligation to consult the Parliament, as laid down in various places in the Treaty, reflects at Community level the fundamental democratic principle that the people should take part in the exercise of power through the intermediary of a representative assembly.
　

72 Representation of the various groups of economic and social life also takes place in the Community's legislative process in the form of consultation of the Economic and Social Committee. In the present action, both the Parliament and that committee were in fact consulted before Regulation No 404/93 was adopted, as provided for in the Treaty.
　

73 The Court considers that, contrary to the thesis advanced by the applicants, the Commission was under no further obligation to consult the various categories of traders concerned by the Community market in bananas. It is quite feasible for the Community legislature to take into consideration the particular situation of distinct categories of traders without hearing them all individually. The Court recalls in this regard that in Case C-280/93 Germany v Council the Court of Justice held that the applicant had not shown that the Council had adopted manifestly inappropriate measures or that it had carried out a manifestly erroneous assessment of the information available to it at the time when the regulation was adopted (paragraph 95). Since Regulation No 404/93 contains provisions concerning traders marketing third country bananas, it follows that the Court of Justice implicitly recognised that the Community legislature had not failed to take into consideration the interests of this category of traders.

74 It follows from the foregoing considerations that the plea of breach of the rights of the defence must be dismissed.'
　

　原告は、さらに、バナナ市場規則はGATTに違反することを指摘しているが（para. 75）、第1審裁判所は、EC裁判所の先例（Case C-280/93 ）でも、このような主張は排斥されているとし、訴えを退けている（para. 77）。