Judgment of the General Court of 26 June 2014 — Quimitécnica.com and de Mello v European Commission

(Case T-564/10) ¹

(Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — European market in animal feed phosphates — Fines — Payment in instalments — Commission decision requiring a bank guarantee to be set up — Obligation to state reasons — Proportionality)

Language of the case: Portuguese

Parties

Applicants: Quimitécnica.com — Comércio e Indústria Química, SA (Lordelo, Portugal); and José de Mello — Sociedade Gestora de Participações Sociais, SA (Lisbon, Portugal) (represented by: J. Calheiros and A. de Albuquerque, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: B. Mongin, V. Bottka and F. Ronkes Agerbeek, Agents, assisted by M. Marques Mendes, lawyer)

Re:

Application for the annulment in part of the decision allegedly set out in the letter from the Commission’s accounting officer of 8 October 2010 concerning payment of the fine imposed on the applicants under Commission Decision C (2010) 5004 final of 20 July 2010 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 101 TFEU and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/38.886 — Animal feed phosphates), in so far as that letter requires the applicants to provide a bank guarantee from a bank that has received a long-term ‘AA’ credit rating in order for the application to pay in instalments to be granted.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders Quimitécnica.com — Comércio e Indústria Química, SA and José de Mello — Sociedade Gestora de Participações Sociais, SA to bear their own costs and to pay those of the European Commission.

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¹ OJ C 55, 19.2.2011.