Order of the President of the General Court of 25 October 2018 –
JPMorgan Chase and Others v Commission

(Case T‑420/18 R)

(Application for interim measures — Competition — Euro Interbank Offered Rates (Euribor) — Euro Interest Rate Derivatives (EIRD) — Rejection of the request for confidential treatment of a decision establishing an infringement of Article 101 TFEU — Principle of the presumption of innocence — Application for interim measures — No prima facie case)

1.      Application for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — Interim measures — Conditions for granting — Prima facie case — Urgency — Serious and irreparable damage — Cumulative nature — Balancing of all the interests involved — Order of examination and method of verification — Discretion of the court hearing the application for interim relief — Assessment in litigation on the protection of confidential information — Condition of prima facie case not satisfied

(Arts 256(1) TFEU, 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 156(4))

(see paras 13-16, 20-23, 26, 31)

2.      Application for interim measures — Admissibility criteria — Application — Formal requirements — Pleas establishing a prima facie case for the measures applied for — Pleas in law not set out in the application — General reference to other documents — Inadmissibility

(Arts 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 156(4) and (5))

(see paras 18, 19)

3.      Competition — Administrative procedure — Professional secrecy — Establishing whether information is covered by professional secrecy — Criteria — Interests, capable of being harmed by the disclosure of information, deserving protection — Balancing of the public interest in the transparency of EU action and legitimate interests opposed to disclosure — Interest of an undertaking that certain information concerning its conduct not be disclosed — Interest not deserving any particular protection in the case of undertakings which participated in an infringement of EU competition rules

(Art. 101 TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Arts 7, 23, 28 and 30)

(see paras 33-35, 37, 38)

4.      Competition — Fines — Decision imposing fines — Content — Opportunity of including factual findings — Commission’s assessment

(Art. 101 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1/2003)

(see para. 36)

5.      Competition — Administrative procedure — Professional secrecy — Establishing whether information is covered by professional secrecy — Historic informations — Not included — Information which cannot be regarded as secret or confidential

(Arts 101 TFEU and 339 TFEU)

(see para. 85)

Re:

Application pursuant to Articles 278 and 279 TFEU seeking, first, a stay on the operation of Commission Decision C(2018) 2745 final of 27 April 2018, on objections to the disclosure of information by their publication raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co., JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association and J.P. Morgan Services, in accordance with Article 8 of Decision 2011/695/EU of the President of the European Commission of 13 October 2011 on the function and terms of reference of the hearing officer in certain competition proceedings (Case AT.39914 — Euro Interest Rate Derivatives (EIRD)), and, second, an order requiring the Commission to refrain from publishing Commission Decision C(2016) 8530 final of 7 December 2016 relating to a proceeding under Article 101 TFEU and Article 53 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (Case AT.39914 — Euro Interest Rate Derivatives (EIRD)).

Operative part

1. The application for interim measures is dismissed.

2. The order of 11 July 2018, JPMorgan Chase and Others v Commission (T‑420/18 R), is cancelled.

3. The costs are reserved.