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 The lawsuit is the EU's second against AstraZeneca after the bloc
took action at the end of April over delayed vaccine supplies.
AstraZeneca has said the EU's first legal action is without merit,
saying that it complied with the contract. The company's lawyer said
on Tuesday the new lawsuit was not needed given that there was
already one underway.
EU lawyer Rafael Jafferali, speaking in a Belgian court at Tuesday's
hearing, asked that AstraZeneca delivers a total of 120 million
vaccine doses by the end of June in Brussels' first formal request
on the exact volume it is seeking to receive by mid-year.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker had originally committed to deliver 300
million vaccine doses from December to the end of June, but has
delayed shipments, having delivered only 50 million, which under the
contract were due in January.
As a partial and immediate compensation for the delays, the EU's
lawyer told the court that the company should deliver 120 million
doses by the end of June - 90 million in the second quarter, in
addition to the 30 million shots shipped by the end of March.
AstraZeneca's aim is to ship 100 million shots by mid-year, which
the company's lawyer Hakim Boularbah confirmed at the hearing on
Tuesday.
Boularbah said AstraZeneca was not obliged to deliver the entire
volume of doses set in the contract because it only committed to
doing its "best reasonable efforts" to achieve it.
He declined to comment when asked by Reuters if the company could
accept the EU's demand to deliver 120 million doses by the end of
June. The company has cited production problems and export
restrictions as reasons for its delayed supplies to the EU.
The EU lawyer told the court that the EU hoped the remainder of the
contracted 300 million doses could be delivered by AstraZeneca by
September, although he did not submit a formal request on this.
AstraZeneca was not immediately available for comment.
[to top of second column] |
 FINE LOOMING?
Officials familiar with the case said the second
lawsuit is mostly procedural, pertaining to the
merits of the issue, but would also allow
financial penalties to be imposed on the
company.
A request for a provisional compensation of 1
euro was put forward by the EU while damages
were assessed. A demand for real compensation
for what the EU has alleged is a breach of
contract by AstraZeneca would be decided at a
later stage.
One official said the fine could be
"significant" but declined to quantify the
financial claim, which would need to be approved
by the judge.
A spokesman for the European Commission told a
news conference later on Tuesday that the
ultimate objective of the lawsuits was to get
doses and not to punish AstraZeneca or seek a
fine. But he also said financial penalties could
be imposed on the company.
The EU lawyer also asked AstraZeneca to share
confidential documents, a request which
AstraZeneca opposes.
The EU had previously urged AstraZeneca to
present evidence of how it spent the 224 million
euros ($272 million) the EU paid in September to
buy vaccine ingredients.
AstraZeneca's lawyer complained in the court
hearing that the EU's executive had launched a
second case given that one had already been
opened.
The judge decided in favour of allowing the
second case to proceed and set Sept. 24 as the
date for the next hearing.
Another hearing has been set for May 26 on the
first legal case in which the EU is seeking an
immediate acceleration of deliveries.
A verdict on the first case is expected before
the end of June, whereas the second case on the
merits of the matter will last at least until
next year.
($1 = 0.8220 euros)
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; additional
reporting by John Chalmers and Jan Strupczewski;
Editing by Jane Merriman and Ed Osmond)
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