Judgment of the General Court of 13 September 2013 – Total Raffinage Marketing v Commission
(Case T-566/08) 1
(Competition – Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Paraffin waxes market – Slack wax market – Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC – Price-fixing and market-sharing – Proof of the existence of the cartel – Concept of a single and continuous infringement – Duration of the infringement – Interruption of the infringement – 2006 Guidelines on the method of setting fines – Equal treatment – Presumption of innocence – Attributability of the unlawful conduct – Liability of a parent company for infringements of the competition rules committed by its subsidiaries – Decisive influence exercised by the parent company – Presumption where the parent company holds 100% of the shares – Proportionality – Rounding method – Unlimited jurisdiction)
Language of the case: French
Parties
Applicant: Total Raffinage Marketing (Puteaux, France) (represented by: A. Vandencasteele, C. Falmagne, C. Lemaire and S. Naudin, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: F. Castillo de la Torre and A. Biolan, acting as Agents, and by N. Coutrelis, lawyer)
Re:
Primarily, application for annulment in part of Commission Decision C(2008) 5476 final of 1 October 2008, relating to a proceeding under Article 81 [EC] and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/39.181 – Candle waxes), and, in the alternative, application for reduction of the fine imposed on the applicant.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Orders the fine imposed on Total Raffinage Marketing in Article 2 of Commission Decision C (2008) 5476 final of 1 October 2008, relating to a proceeding under Article 81 [EC] and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/39.181 – Candle waxes) to be set at EUR 125 459 842;
Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
Orders Total Raffinage Marketing to bear nine-tenths of its own costs and to pay nine-tenths of the costs of the European Commission. The European Commission is to bear one-tenth of its own costs and to pay one-tenth of the costs incurred by Total Raffinage Marketing.
____________1 OJ C 55, 7.3.2009.