Judgment of the General Court of 19 January 2022 – Deutsche Telekom v Commission

(Case T-610/19) ¹

(Action for annulment and for damages – Competition – Abuse of dominant position – Slovak market for broadband telecommunications services – Decision finding an infringement of Article 102 TFEU and Article 54 of the EEA Agreement – Judgment annulling the decision in part and reducing the amount of the fine imposed – Refusal of the Commission to pay default interest – Article 266 TFEU – Article 90(4)(a) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012) – Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law conferring rights on individuals – Loss of use of the amount of the fine that had been unduly paid – Loss of profits – Default interest – Rates – Harm)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Deutsche Telekom AG (Bonn, Germany) (represented by: P. Linsmeier, U. Soltész, C. von Köckritz and P. Lohs, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: P. Rossi and L. Wildpanner, acting as Agents)

Re:

First, application under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of the Commission’s Decision of 28 June 2019 refusing to pay default interests to the applicant on the principal amount of the portion of the fine repaid following the judgment of 13 December 2018, Deutsche Telekom v Commission (T-827/14, EU:T:2018:930), and, second, application under Article 268 TFEU for compensation for lost revenue as a result of the loss of use of that principal amount or, in the alternative, for the harm resulting from the Commission’s refusal to pay default interest on that amount.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Orders the European Commission to pay Deutsche Telekom AG compensation in the amount of EUR 1 750 522.83 for the harm suffered;

The compensation referred to in point 1 shall be increased by default interest, starting from the date of delivery of the present judgment and continuing until full payment, at the rate set by the European Central Bank (ECB) for its main refinancing operations, increased by three and a half percentage points;

Annuls the Commission’s decision of 28 June 2019 refusing to pay default interest to Deutsche Telekom for the period from 16 January 2015 to 19 February 2019 on the principal amount of the fine repaid following the judgment of 13 December 2018, Deutsche Telekom v Commission (T-827/14, EU:T:2018:930);

Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

Orders the European Commission to bear its own costs and to pay half of the costs incurred by Deutsche Telekom;

Orders Deutsche to bear half of its own costs.

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¹ OJ C 363, 28.10.2019.