Last checked at 
* EU demands faster deliveries in first hearing of legal
case
* AstraZeneca says lower supplies not in breach of contract
* EU, UK vie for doses, Astra has under-delivered to both
* Next hearings on May 26, EU seeks verdict before end of
June
(recasts with quotes, details)
By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS, April 28 (Reuters) - European Union lawyers on
Wednesday demanded AstraZeneca immediately deliver
COVID-19 vaccines from its factories in Britain, in a move that
risks reigniting a spat with London over scarce vaccine
supplies.
The call came in the opening hearing of the European
Commission's legal case in Brussels against the Anglo-Swedish
drugmaker over supply delays.
AstraZeneca has missed delivery targets to both Britain and
the EU, delaying the bloc's immunisation campaign in particular,
and stoking tensions between London and Brussels.
The bloc accuses the company of failing to meet its
contractual obligations, whereas AstraZeneca says it is
complying with the agreement, which it considers not fully
binding.
"We demand deliveries by the end of June and we also demand
with immediate effect the use of all plants listed in the
contract," EU lawyer Rafael Jafferali told the judge in a
hearing room packed with journalists.
"The contract listed a series of plants that had to be used
by AstraZeneca and that still today, in breach of the contract,
AstraZeneca is not using," the lawyer said.
AstraZeneca lawyer Hakim Boularbah retorted: "There is no
obligation to use the factories."
The contract lists four vaccine-making plants, with two of
them Britain. Whereas AstraZeneca has delivered doses to the EU
from sites in Belgium and the Netherlands, it has not shipped to
EU countries any dose produced in UK plants run by Oxford
Biomedica and Cobra Biologics.
The contract also says that a Catalent factory in
the United States which manufactures AstraZeneca jabs "may serve
as a back-up supply site".
EU officials have told Reuters that AstraZeneca justifies
the lack of supplies from Britain by citing clauses in its UK
contracts that prevent exports of the vaccine it developed with
Oxford University.
The UK government has denied export curbs and is seeking
extra doses from a factory in the Netherlands run by
AstraZeneca's sub-contractor Halix. The EU is now blocking
exports from that plant.
The U.S. government has told Brussels it will not export
doses to Europe until its vaccine rollout is completed
.
UNDER-DELIVERING
With the pandemic still raging across the continent, the
AstraZeneca vaccine was seen as a central part of Europe's
immunisation campaign and a way to send coronavirus shots to
poorer countries because of its simple storage requirements.
But cuts and delays in deliveries have disrupted the
inoculation campaign in the EU, which trails behind Britain, the
United States and Israel on vaccinations.
By the end of March, AstraZeneca had delivered only a
quarter of what it had committed to the EU. The company has said
it plans to ship a total of 100 million doses to the bloc by the
end of June, instead of 300 million foreseen in the contract.
Under Britain's 100-million-dose contract, AstraZeneca was
supposed to have delivered 30 million by September 2020, but it
had only supplied about five million by the end of last year.
One million doses came from EU factories, officials have said.
AstraZeneca has blamed production problems for the delays.
In court, the first session ended in just over an hour and
the parties agreed to hold two hearings on May 26. The EU
lawyers asked for a decision before the end of June to make sure
missing doses could be delivered in a timely fashion.
An EU official told Reuters earlier this week the EU could
settle for 130 million doses by the end of June.
If no other hearing is necessary, a decision could be made
in the weeks following the May 26 hearings.
"AstraZeneca deeply regrets the decision of the European
Commission to start this legal action," company lawyer Hakim
Boularbah told journalists after the hearing. "We hope to
resolve this dispute as soon as possible."
(Writing by Francesco Guarascio and Robin Emmott. Editing by
Gabriela Baczynska and Mark Potter)
