The EU starts with the lawsuit against Astra Zeneca. 10 euros at a delayed dose, but …
The European Union has asked the Brussels court of justice to impose a hefty fine on AstraZeneca for its delays in delivering Covid vaccines. According to the lawyers who submitted the request, the request of the commission get 10 euros per dose for each day of delay. The EU also asks for a fine of 10 euros for each late dose of AstraZeneca. The verdict is expected next month.
The alleged violations are not only the delays: AstraZeneca has committed a "manifest violation" by delivering "50 million doses" which from the Dutch Halix plant in Leiden not to EU countries, but by having them delivered to third countries. The lawyer Me Rafaël Jeffareli, who defends the interests of the member countries and the EU Commission in the legal battle, thinks he is making good use of it in his legal battle that will take place before the Belgian justice.
The hearing revolves around the interpretation of the notion of "maximum possible effort" to meet the agreements established in the contract for the supply of vaccines to Member States. The EU believes that AstraZeneca has not made these efforts by favoring the supply of the United Kingdom at the expense of the continental market . In his briefs, the EU lawyer called AstraZeneca's execution of the contract "clearly a failure", stressing that for several weeks the company's Dutch plant continued to supply markets other than the EU. “Best efforts mean flexibility! Why did the passage from the Halix site (towards the EU, ed ) only begin on 13 October? ", The lawyer accused, adding that" AstraZeneca did not even use all the tools it had at its disposal "and arguing that the the company could currently mobilize "six production sites to comply with the pre-established program".
You will think that the lawyer, or rather the law firm, of the Commission is on horseback. Stop all, the "Best possible effort" according to what is written in the contract, is to be compared with "Compared to what the competitors would do", a final sentence that completely changes the context of the statement. At AstraZeneca it will be sufficient to demonstrate that its business was similar to what a competitor would have done and the matter will be put to sleep. Moreover, if the law firm of the Commission were so good it would not have accepted a contract as bad as the one concluded. Then, knowing the power of the pharmaceutical lobbies in Brussels, I find it very difficult for the Commission to win. It will end as with Tercas, Amazon, Apple etc, with a resounding defeat.
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The article LA UE starts with the Astra Zeneca case 10 euro at a delayed dose, but… it comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-ue-parte-con-la-causa-ad-astra-zeneca-10-euro-a-dose-ritardata-ma/ on Wed, 26 May 2021 13:44:05 +0000.