Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 18 July 2013 – Schindler Holding Ltd, Schindler Management AG, Schindler SA, Schindler Sàrl, Schindler Liften BV, Schindler Deutschland Holding GmbH v European Commission, Council of the European Union

(Case C-501/11 P) ¹

(Appeal – Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Market for the installation and maintenance of elevators and escalators – Liability of the parent company for infringements of the law on cartels committed by its subsidiary – Holding company – Internal compliance programme – Fundamental rights – Principles of the rule of law in the context of determination of the fines imposed – Separation of powers, and principles of legality, of non-retroactivity, of the protection of legitimate expectations and of fault – Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 – Article 23(2) – Validity – Legality of the 1998 Commission guidelines)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Appellants: Schindler Holding Ltd, Schindler Management AG, Schindler SA, Schindler Sàrl, Schindler Liften BV, Schindler Deutschland Holding GmbH (represented by: R. Bechtold and W. Bosch, Rechtsanwälte, and J. Schwarze, Prozessbevollmächtigter)

Other parties to the proceedings: European Commission (represented by: R. Sauer and C. Hödlmayr, acting as Agents, and A. Böhlke, Rechtsanwalt), Council of the European Union (represented by: F. Florindo Gijón and M. Simm, Agents)

Re:

Appeal against the judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 13 July 2011 in Case T-138/07 Schindler Holding and Others v Commission by which the General Court dismissed the action seeking the annulment of Commission Decision C(2007) 512 final of 21 February 2007 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 EC (Case COMP/E-1/38.823 − Elevators and Escalators), concerning a cartel on the market for the installation and maintenance of elevators and escalators in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands relating to bid-rigging, the sharing of markets, the fixing of prices, the award of projects and of the related contracts and the exchange of information, and, in the alternative, seeking the reduction of the fine imposed upon the appellants

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the appeal;

Orders Schindler Holding Ltd, Schindler Management AG, Schindler SA, Schindler Sàrl, Schindler Liften BV and Schindler Deutschland Holding GmbH to bear their own costs and, in addition, to pay those incurred by the European Commission;

Orders the Council of the European Union to bear its own costs.

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¹ OJ C 347, 26.11.2011.