Judgment of the General Court of 23 January 2014 – SKW Stahl-Metallurgie Holding and SKW Stahl-Metallurgie v Commission
(Case T-384/09) 1
(Competition – Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Market for calcium carbide and magnesium for the steel and gas industries in the EEA, with the exception of Ireland, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom – Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC – Price-fixing and market-sharing – Rights of the defence – Imputability of the unlawful conduct – Obligation to state reasons – Fines – Equal treatment – Mitigating circumstances – Cooperation during the administrative procedure – Proportionality – Joint and several liability for payment of the fine – 2006 guidelines on the method of setting fines)
Language of the case: German
Parties
Applicants: SKW Stahl-Metallurgie Holding AG (Unterneukirchen, Germany); and SKW Stahl-Metallurgie GmbH (Unterneukirchen) (represented by: initially, A. Birnstiel, S. Janka and S. Dierckens, lawyers and, subsequently, A. Birnstiel and S. Janka)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: N. von Lingen and A. Antoniadis, Agents, and by A. Böhlka, lawyer)
Intervener in support of the applicants: Gigaset AG (formerly Arques Industries AG) (Munich, Germany) (represented by: C. Grave, A. Scheidtmann and B. Meyring, lawyers)
Re:
Application for annulment of Commission Decision C(2009) 5791 final of 22 July 2009 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 [EC] and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/39.396 – Calcium carbide and magnesium based reagents for the steel and gas industries), in so far as it applies to the applicants, and, in the alternative, an application for annulment or reduction of the amount of the fine imposed on the applicants by that decision.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders SKW Stahl-Metallurgie Holding AG and SKW Stahl-Metallurgie GmbH, in addition to bearing their own costs, to pay the costs incurred by the European Commission;
Orders Gigaset AG to bear its own costs.
____________1 OJ C 297, 5.12.2009.