Judgment of the General Court of 18 May 2022 – Canon v Commission
(Case T-609/19) 1
(Competition – Concentrations – Medical equipment manufacturing sector – Decision imposing fines for implementing a concentration prior to notification and authorisation – Article 4(1), Article 7(1) and Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 – Interim transaction and ultimate transaction – Parking structure – Single concentration– Rights of the defence – Legitimate expectations – Principle of legality – Proportionality – Amount of fines – Mitigating circumstances)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Canon Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) (represented by: U. Soltész, W. Bosch, C. von Köckritz, K. Winkelmann, M. Reynolds, J. Schindler, D. Arts and W. Devroe, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: G. Conte and C. Urraca Caviedes, acting as Agents)
Intervener in support of the defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: A.-L. Meyer and O. Segnana, acting as Agents)
Re:
Application under Article 263 TFEU for, primarily, annulment of Commission Decision C(2019) 4559 final of 27 June 2019 imposing fines for failing to notify a concentration in breach of Article 4(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 and for implementing a concentration in breach of Article 7(1) of that regulation (Case M.8179 – Canon/Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation), and, in the alternative, annulment or reduction of the fines imposed on the applicant.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders Canon Inc. to bear its own costs as well as 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 399, 25.11.2019.