Order of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 9 June 2010 – Commission v Schneider Electric

(Case C‑440/07 P)

Appeal – Partial annulment of the judgment under appeal – Final judgment where the state of the proceedings so permits – Non-contractual liability of the Community – Evaluation of the loss

1.                     Non-contractual liability – Damage – Evaluation – Criteria – Making good of various expenses borne by an undertaking as a result of the annulment of a decision declaring a merger operation incompatible with the common market and of a decision ordering the separation of the entities merged (Art. 288, second para., EC) (see paras 41-50)

2.                     Procedure – Costs – Rules applicable (see paras 51-53)

Re:

Appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (Fourth Chamber, Extended Composition) in Case T‑351/03 Schneider Electric v Commission , by which that Court ordered the European Commission to make good, first, the expenses incurred by Schneider Electric SA in respect of its participation in the resumed merger control procedure which followed delivery of the judgments of the Court of First Instance on 22 October 2002 in Cases T‑310/01 and T‑77/02 Schneider Electric v Commission and, second, two thirds of the loss sustained by Schneider Electric as a result of the reduction in the transfer price of Legrand SA which Schneider Electric had to concede to the transferee in exchange for the postponement of the effective date of sale of Legrand until 10 December 2002 – Conditions governing the establishment of non-contractual liability on the part of the Community – Concepts of wrongful act, damage and direct causal link between the wrongful act and the damage suffered – ‘Sufficiently serious’ breach of Community law vitiating the procedure for examination of the compatibility of a concentration with the common market.

Operative part:

1. Fixes the amount of the loss to be made good in point 3 of the operative part of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 16 July 2009 in Case C-440/07 P Commission v Schneider Electric [2009] ECR I-6413 at EUR 50 000.

2. Dismisses Schneider Electric SA’s claim relating to costs.