Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 12 December 2014 — Tudapetrol Mineralölerzeugnisse Nils Hansen v Commission
(Case T‑550/08)
Competition — Agreements — Paraffin waxes market — Coordination and price increases — Price fixing — 2006 Guidelines for calculating the amount of fines — Rights of the defence — Proof of the infringement — Limitation
1. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision imposing fines for breach of the competition rules and concerning a number of addressees — Need for a sufficient statement of reasons in relation to each of the addressees (Arts 81 EC and 253 EC) (see paras 32‑36, 51, 53)
2. Competition — Administrative procedure — Commission decision finding an infringement — Use of a single name for two companies belonging to the same group and having personnel and vertical links — No infringement of Article 81 EC (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 37-40, 54-65)
3. Competition — Administrative procedure — Statement of objections — Necessary content — Observance of the rights of the defence — Undertakings afforded the opportunity to make known their views on the facts, objections and circumstances alleged by the Commission (Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 27(1)) (see paras 68-76)
4. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Agreements between undertakings — Concept — Joint intention as to the conduct to be adopted on the market — Included — Pursuance of negotiations on certain aspects of the restriction — Irrelevant (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 81-83, 136, 154)
5. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Concerted practice — Concept — Coordination and cooperation incompatible with the obligation on each undertaking to determine independently its conduct on the market — Exchange of information between competitors — Anti competitive object or effect (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 84, 85, 125, 138)
6. Competition — Administrative procedure — Commission decision finding an infringement — Burden of proof — Proof adduced by a number of different manifestations of the infringement — Lawfulness — Reliance on a body of evidence — Degree of evidential value necessary as regards items of evidence viewed in isolation — Documentary proof — Criteria — Reliability of evidence produced — Evidential obligations on undertakings disputing the existence of the infringement (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 86, 90-101, 121, 159, 171, 191, 204)
7. EU law — Principles — Fundamental rights — Presumption of innocence — Procedures in competition matters — Applicability — Scope — Consequences (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 87-89)
8. Competition — Administrative procedure — Commission decision finding an infringement — Burden of proving the infringement and its duration on the Commission — Probative value of voluntary statements incriminating an undertaking by the main participants in a cartel in order to benefit from application of the Leniency Notice — Statements going against the interests of the said undertaking — High probative value (Art. 81(1) EC; Commission Notice 2002/C 45/03) (see paras 102-107, 120)
9. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Agreements between undertakings — Concept — Participation in meetings having an anti-competitive object — Included — Condition — Undertaking concerned not distancing itself from the decisions adopted — Criteria for assessment (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 123, 124, 126, 214-216)
10. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Agreements and concerted practices constituting a single infringement — Undertakings that may be held responsible for participating in an overall cartel — Criteria (Art. 81(1) EC) (see para. 127)
11. Competition — Administrative procedure — Time-limit with regard to proceedings — Point from which time starts to run — Continued or repeated infringements — Day on which infringement ceased — Interruption — Inspection decision (Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 25(1) to (3)) (see paras 220-225)
Re:
| Principally, application for annulment of Commission Decision C(2008) 5476 final of 1 October 2008 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/39.181 — Candle Waxes), in so far as it concerns the applicant, and, in the alternative, an application for reduction of the amount of the fine imposed on the applicant. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders Tudapetrol Mineralölerzeugnisse Nils Hansen KG to bear its own costs and pay those incurred by the European Commission, including those incurred in the proceedings for interim measures. |