Judgment of the General Court of 14 November 2012 - Nexans France and Nexans v Commission
(Case T-135/09)
(Competition - Administrative procedure - Action for annulment - Acts adopted during an inspection - Intermediate measures - Inadmissibility - Decision ordering an inspection - Obligation to state the reasons on which the decision is based - Protection of privacy - Reasonable grounds - Review by the Courts)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Nexans France SAS (Paris, France) and Nexans SA (Paris) (represented by: M. Powell, solicitor, J.-P. Tran-Thiet, avocat, and G. Forwood, barrister)
Defendant: European Commission (represented initially by X. Lewis and N. von Lingen, and subsequently by N. von Lingen and V. Di Bucci, acting as Agents)
Re:
Application for (i) annulment of Commission decision C (2009) 92/1 of 9 January 2009 ordering Nexans SA and its subsidiary Nexans France SAS to submit to an inspection in accordance with Article 20, paragraph 4, of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 [EC] and 82 [EC] (OJ 2003 L 1, p. 1) (Case COMP/39.610); (ii) a declaration that the decision taken by the Commission during that inspection to copy in their entirety the content of certain computer files, in order to examine them in its offices, is unlawful; (iii) annulment of the decision taken by the Commission to interview an employee of Nexans France during the inspection; and (iv) an order directing the Commission to take certain action.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Annuls Commission decision C (2009) 92/1 of 9 January 2009 ordering Nexans SA and all companies directly or indirectly controlled by it, including Nexans France SAS, to submit to an inspection in accordance with Article 20, paragraph 4, of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 [EC] and 82 [EC], in so far as it concerns electric cables other than high voltage underwater and underground electric cables and the material associated with those other cables;
Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
Orders Nexans and Nexans France to bear their own costs and to pay half of the costs incurred by the European Commission;
Orders the European Commission to bear half of its own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 141, 20.6.2009.