Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 22 January 2005 by Agroexpansión S.A. against the Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-38/05)

(Language of the case: Spanish)

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 22 January 2005 by Agroexpansión S.A., Madrid (Spain), represented by Jaime Folguera Crespo and Patricia Vidal Martínez, of the Madrid Bar.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

partially annul Article 3 of the Decision of the Commission of 20 October 2004, reducing the amount of the fine imposed on Agroexpansión;

order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The decision at issue is the same as in Case T-24/05 Standard Commercial and Others v Commission¹.

The grounds put forward by the applicant are similar to those relied on in that case (infringement of the principle of equal treatment and of Article 23(2) of Regulation No 1/2003).

In particular, it is alleged that the Commission erred in taking into consideration the consolidated turnover of the group of undertakings headed by DIMON INC., in order to determine the amount of the fine imposed on the applicant. Furthermore, AGROEXPANSION only became part of that group in November 1997.

Moreover, the Commission failed to take account of the attenuating circumstance that the applicant ceased to engage in those practices as soon as it became aware of the Commission's measures of inspection.

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¹ - Not yet published in the Official Journal.