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Abstract

The legal exercise of Community powers may as much be infringed by an act of a Community institution as by its inaction. In both instances, the conduct of a Community institution may be contrary to Community law — irrelevant whether explicitly or implicitly manifested. Moreover, interests of private parties may be equally affected by an illegal act or by an illegal inaction. However, this allegedly common purpose of an action for annulment or for default1 should not obscure the fact that these two legal actions pose their own problems and difficulties. Leaving this common purpose aside, it seems evident that, in practice, an action for default, compared with an action for annulment, pursues a different way of ensuring a legal conduct of a Community institution.

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Bebr, G. (1981). Action for Default. In: Development of Judicial Control of the European Communities. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9019-0_3

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