Judgment of the General Court of 29 February 2016 — UTi Worldwide and Others v Commission
(Case T-264/12) 1
(Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — International air freight forwarding services — Decision finding an infringement of Article 101 TFEU — Surcharges and tariff mechanisms having an impact on the final price of services — Errors of assessment — Proof — Whether trade between Member States affected — Appreciable effect on competition — Amount of the fine — Gravity of the infringement — Proportionality — Joint and several liability — Unlimited jurisdiction)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: UTi Worldwide, Inc. (Tortola, British Virgin Islands), UTi Nederland BV (Schiphol, Netherlands), and UTI Worldwide (UK) Ltd (Reading, United Kingdom) (represented by: P. Kirch, lawyer)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: A. Biolan, V. Bottka and G. Meessen, acting as Agents)
Re:
Application for annulment of Commission Decision C(2012) 1959 final of 28 March 2012 relating to a proceeding under Article 101 [TFEU] and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/39462 — Freight forwarding), in so far as it concerns the applicants, and, in the alternative, for variation of the fine imposed on them in that decision.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Annuls Commission Decision C(2012) 1959 final of 28 March 2012 relating to a proceeding under Article 101 [TFEU] and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/39462 — Freight forwarding), in so far as the amount of the fine imposed on UTi Worldwide, Inc. exceeds that of the fines imposed on UTi Nederland BV and UTI Worldwide (UK) Ltd;
Sets the overall amount of the fine imposed on UTi Worldwide in Article 2(2) of Decision C(2012) 1959 final at EUR 2 965 000, the amount of the fine which is attributable to that undertaking pursuant to the first line of Article 2(2)(j) of that decision being set at EUR 1 692 000;
Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
Orders UTi Worldwide, UTi Nederland and UTI Worldwide (UK) to bear nine tenths of the costs of the European Commission and of their own costs;
Orders the European Commission to bear one tenth of its own costs and of the costs of UTi Worldwide, UTi Nederland and UTI Worldwide (UK).
____________1 OJ C 235, 4.8.2012.