Action brought on 23 May 2003 by Giorgio Lebedef and Others against Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-204/05)

(2005/C 193/57)

Language of the case: French

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 23 May 2005 by Giorgio Lebedef, residing in Luxembourg, Armand Imbert, residing in Brussels, Jean-Marie Rousseau, residing in Brussels, and Maria Rosario Domenech Cobo, residing in Brussels, represented by G. Bounéou and F. Frabetti, lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg.

The applicants claim that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicants, all officials of the Commission, applied to their superiors for the operating system and all the software used to operate their personal computers to be made available in their mother tongue or, alternatively, in another official language of the European Union of their choice. That application and their complaints having been rejected, the applicants brought this action. They claim that the practice of installing the entire configuration of the computers in English, although the software used is available in several languages, infringes the principle of non-discrimination, because the complete mastery of the computer necessitates a knowledge, no less complete, of the English language, superior to the level which can reasonably be expected of a European official who is not anglophone by birth.

The applicants also rely on alleged infringements of the duty to have regard for the welfare of officials, of the prohibition of arbitrary procedures and of the duty to state reasons, as well as an alleged misuse of powers.