Judgment of the General Court of 29 June 2012 - E.ON Ruhrgas and E.ON v Commission

(Case T-360/09) 

(Competition - Agreements, decisions and concerted practices - German and French markets for natural gas - Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC - Market sharing - Duration of the infringement - Fines)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicants: E.ON Ruhrgas AG (Essen, Germany), and E.ON AG (Düsseldorf, Germany) (represented by: G. Wiedemann and T. Klose, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: V. Di Bucci, A. Bouquet and R. Sauer, acting as Agents, assisted by M. Buntscheck, lawyer)

Re:

Application for annulment of Commission Decision C(2009) 5355 final of 8 July 2009 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 [EC] (Case COMP/39.401 - E.ON/GDF), and, in the alternative, for a reduction in the amount of the fine imposed on the applicants

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Annuls Article 1 of Commission Decision C(2009) 5355 final of 8 July 2009 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 [EC] (Case COMP/39.401 - E.ON/GDF), first, inasmuch as it found that the duration of the infringement was from 1 January 1980 until at least 24 April 1998 as regards the infringement committed in Germany and, secondly, inasmuch as it found that an infringement was committed in France from 13 August 2004 to 30 September 2005;

Sets the amount of the fine imposed on E.ON Ruhrgas AG and E.ON AG in Article 2(a) of Decision C(2009) 5355 final at EUR 320 million;

Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

Orders each party to bear its own costs.

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¹ - OJ C 282, 21.11.2009.