Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 18 June 2015

Deutsche Bahn AG and Others v European Commission

Appeals — Competition — Rail transport and ancillary services sector — Abuse of dominant position — Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 — Articles 20 and 28(1) — Administrative procedure — Decision ordering an inspection — Commission’s powers of inspection — Fundamental right to the inviolability of the home — No prior judicial authorisation — Effective judicial review — Fortuitous discovery

Case C-583/13 P



Top of the page Documents in the Case
Document Date Name of the parties Subject-matter Curia EUR-Lex Autres Liens
Judgment (OJ)
07/08/2015 Deutsche Bahn and Others v Commission
Competition
  • Competition
View pdf documents
Judgment
ECLI:EU:C:2015:404		 18/06/2015 Deutsche Bahn and Others v Commission
Competition
  • Competition
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Judgment (Summary)
ECLI:EU:C:2015:404		 18/06/2015 Deutsche Bahn and Others v Commission
Competition
  • Competition
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Application (OJ)
10/01/2014 Deutsche Bahn and Others v Commission
Competition
  • Competition
View pdf documents
Opinion
ECLI:EU:C:2015:92		 12/02/2015 Deutsche Bahn and Others v Commission
Competition
  • Competition
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Top of the page Legal analysis of the decision or of the case

Reports of Cases

published in the electronic Reports of Cases (Court Reports - general)

Subject-matter

Appeal brought against the judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 6 September 2012 in Joined Cases T-289/11, T-290/11 and T-521/11 Deutsche Bahn and Others v Commission, by which the General Court dismissed the applicants’ appeal seeking annulment of the Commission’s decisions C(2011) 1774 of 14 March 2011, C (2011) 2365 of 30 March 2011 and C(2011) 5230 of 14 July 2011, which ordered investigations of Deutschen Bahn AG and all of its subsidiaries (Cases COMP/39.678 and COMP/39.731) pursuant to Article 20(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003 - Infringement of the fundamental right to inviolability of one’s premises and of the right to effective judicial review – Misapplication of the rules on the burden of proof – Misinterpretation of the judgment of the Court of 17 October 1989 in Case 85/87 Dow Benelux v Commission

Systematic classification scheme

1.
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.03 Implementation of the competition rules
      4.08.03.02 Procedure for the application of the competition rules by the Commission
        4.08.03.02.05 Investigations
-
1 The legal order of the European Union
  1.04 Fundamental rights
    1.04.03 The fundamental rights
      1.04.03.07 Respect for private and family life
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.03 Implementation of the competition rules
      4.08.03.02 Procedure for the application of the competition rules by the Commission
        4.08.03.02.05 Investigations
-
1 The legal order of the European Union
  1.04 Fundamental rights
    1.04.03 The fundamental rights
      1.04.03.47 Right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.08 Competition
    4.08.03 Implementation of the competition rules
      4.08.03.02 Procedure for the application of the competition rules by the Commission
        4.08.03.02.05 Investigations


Citations of case-law or legislation

References in grounds of judgment

Operative part

Opinion


Dates

Date of the lodging of the application initiating proceedings

  • 15/11/2013

Date of the Opinion

  • 12/02/2015

Date of the hearing

Information not available

Date of delivery

18/06/2015


References

Publication in the Official Journal

Judgment: OJ C 279 from 24.08.2015, p.6

Application: OJ C 24 from 25.01.2014, p.9

Name of the parties

Deutsche Bahn and Others v Commission

Notes on Academic Writings

  1. Tricker, Mark ; Angeli, Clio: The Deutsche Bahn judgment - The ECJ backs limiting the European Commission's investigative powers, Competition Law Insight 2015 Vol. 14 Issue 9 p.16 (EN)
  2. Vial, Claire: Cour de justice, 2e ch., 18 juin 2015, Deutsche Bahn e.a. c/ Commission, aff. C-583/13 P, ECLI:EU:C:2015:404, Jurisprudence de la CJUE 2015 (Ed. Bruylant - Bruxelles) 2015 p.97-100 (FR)
  3. Deselaers, Wolfgang ; Venot, Erik: Limits on the European Commission’s Inspection Powers, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice 2015 p.1-3 (EN)
  4. Deselaers, Wolfgang ; Venot, Erik: Deutsche Bahn v Commission: Limits on the European Commission's Inspection Powers, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice 2015 Vol. 6 nº 8 p.581-583 (EN)
  5. Idot, Laurence: Pouvoirs d'inspection de la Commission, Europe 2015 Août-Septembre Comm. nº 8-9 p.34-35 (FR)
  6. Sauer, Ralf: Kartellrecht: Teilweise Rechtswidrigkeit der Nach­prüfungen (Dawn Raids) bei der Deutschen Bahn, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht 2015 Heft 18 p.718-724 (DE)
  7. Priskin, Boglárka: Az Európai Bizottság vizsgálati jogosítványainak korlátai a Deutsche Bahn-ítélet tükrében, Versenytükör 2015 2. szám p.114-122 (HU)
  8. Van Bockel, B.: Gone fishing? Grenzen aan de toelaatbaarheid van "toevallig" tijdens een inspectie verkregen bewijs in Deutsche Bahn, Nederlands tijdschrift voor Europees recht 2016 p.69-74 (NL)
  9. Veenbrink, J.M.: De grote boze wolf aan de deur: een verhaal over de Commissie, haar inspectiebevoegdheden en het huisrecht, S.E.W. ; Sociaal-economische wetgeving 2016 p.240-250 (NL)
  10. Vial, Claire: III. Droits fondamentaux - Cour de justice, 2e ch., 18 juin 2015, Deutsche Bahn e.a. c/ Commission, aff. C-583/13 P, ECLI:EU:C:2015:404, Jurisprudence de la CJUE 2015. Décisions et commentaires (Ed. Bruylant - Bruxelles) 2016, p. 97-100 (FR)



Procedural Analysis Information

Source of the question referred for a preliminary ruling

Information not available

Subject-matter

  • Competition

Provisions of national law referred to

Information not available

Provisions of international law referred to

Information not available

Procedure and result

  • Actions for annulment
  • Appeals : application granted
  • Appeals : dismissal on substantive grounds

Formation of the Court

deuxième chambre (Cour)

Judge-Rapporteur

Arabadjiev

Advocate General

Wahl

Language(s) of the Case

  • German

Language(s) of the Opinion

  • English