The European Commission has said it has launched legal action against AstraZeneca for not respecting its contract for the supply of Covid-19 vaccines and for not having a "reliable" plan to ensure timely deliveries.
"The commission has started last Friday a legal action against the company AstraZeneca on the basis of breaches of the advanced purchase agreement," EU spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker said.
"Some terms of the contract have not been respected and the company has not been in a position to come up with a reliable strategy to ensure the timely delivery of doses."
De Keersmaecker said the action was launched "on behalf of the 27 member states that are fully aligned in their support of this procedure".
"What matters to us in this case is that we want to make sure that there's a speedy delivery of a sufficient number of doses that European citizens are entitled to, and which have been promised on the basis of the contract," he said.
The Commission discussed the matter at a meeting of EU ambassadors last week.
The EU and AstraZeneca have been at loggerheads as the British-Swedish company's alleged shortfall of deliveries to the bloc hobbled the early efforts to roll out jabs.
The commission - which has been responsible for procuring vaccines for all of the bloc - informed member states last week of its plans to take the company to court and pressed for support from national governments.
Diplomats said any lawsuit against AstraZeneca would begin in a Belgian court - the jurisdiction agreed under the commission's contract with the AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca has so far delivered just 31 million of the 120 million doses it had promised to the EU. It has warned it will likewise provide just 70 million of the 180 million more meant to be delivered over the rest of this year.
The shortages severely hampered vaccination campaigns across EU countries.
In a statement, AstraZeneca said that it regrets the European Commission's decision to take legal action.
It said that following an unprecedented year of scientific discovery, very complex negotiations, and manufacturing challenges, the company is about to deliver almost 50m doses to European countries by the end of April, in line with its forecast.
AstraZeneca said it had fully complied with the Advance Purchase Agreement with the European Commission and will strongly defend itself in court.
"We believe any litigation is without merit and we welcome this opportunity to resolve this dispute as soon as possible," the company said.
AstraZeneca's French-Australian boss Pascal Soriot has argued that his company's contract with the EU binds it only to a "best reasonable efforts" clause.
But the commission says the rest of the contract shows greater legal responsibility than that, and EU diplomats and lawmakers have pointed out that the company has largely delivered promised doses to Britain, where it is headquartered.
