Judgment of the Court of First Instance (First Chamber) of 17 September 2007 - Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd and Akcros Chemicals Ltd v Commission
(Joined Cases T-125/03 and T-253/03) 1 (Competition - Administrative procedure - Commission's powers of investigation - Documents seized in the course of an investigation - Legal professional privilege protecting communications between lawyers and their clients - Admissibility)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd (Hersham, Walton on Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom), Akcros Chemicals Ltd (Hersham) (represented by C. Swaak, M. Mollica and M. van der Woude, lawyers)
Defendants: Commission of the European Communities (represented initially by R Wainwright and C. Ingen-Housz, and subsequently by F. Castillo de la Torre and X. Lewis, Agents),
Interveners in support of the defendants: The Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE) (Brussels, Belgium), (represented by J. Flynn QC); Algemene Raad van de Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten (The Hague, Netherlands) (represented by O. Brouwer and C. Schillemans, lawyers); European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA) (Brussels) (represented by M. Dolmans, K. Nordlander, lawyers, and J. Temple Lang, solicitor); American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA) - European Chapter (Paris, France) (represented by G. Berrisch, lawyer, and D. Hull, solicitor); International Bar Association (IBA) (London, United Kingdom) (represented by J. Buhart, lawyer)
Re:
Application, first, for the annulment of Commission decision C (2003) 559/4 of 10 February 2003 and, so far as necessary, of Commission decision C (2003) 85/4 of 30 January 2003 ordering Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd, Akcros Chemicals Ltd and Akcros Chemicals and their respective subsidiaries to submit to an investigation on the basis of Article 14(3) of Regulation No 17 of 6 February 1962, First Council Regulation implementing Articles [81 EC] and [82 EC] (OJ, English Special Edition 1959-1962, p. 87) (Case COMP/E-1/38.589) and for an order requiring the Commission to return certain documents seized in the course of the investigation in question and not to use their contents (Case T-125/03) and, second, for the annulment of Commission decision C(2003) 1533 final of 8 May 2003 rejecting a request for the protection of those documents on grounds of legal professional privilege protecting communications between lawyers and their clients (Case T-253/03).
Operative part of the judgment
Dismisses the action in Case T-125/03 as inadmissible;
Dismisses the action in Case T-253/03 as unfounded;
Orders Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd and Akcros Chemicals Ltd to bear three fifths of their own costs relating to the main proceedings and to the proceedings for interim relief, and to pay three fifths of the costs incurred by the Commission relating to the main proceedings and to the proceedings for interim relief;
Orders the Commission to bear two fifths of its own costs relating to the main proceedings and to the proceedings for interim relief, and to pay two fifths of the costs incurred by Akzo Nobel Chemicals and Akcros Chemicals relating to the main proceedings and to the proceedings for interim relief;
Orders the interveners to bear their own costs relating to the main proceedings and to the proceedings for interim relief.
____________1 - OJ C 146, 21.6.2003.