Judgments (Information) nº T-482/07 of The General Court, September 16, 2013

• Resolution Date: September 16, 2013
• Issuing Organization: The General Court
• Decision Number: T-482/07

Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 16 September 2013 —Nynäs Petroleum and Nynas Petróleo v Commission (Case T‑482/07)

Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Spanish market for penetration bitumen — Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC — Annual market-sharing and price-fixing arrangements — Evidence of participation in the cartel — Calculation of the amount of the fine

1. Judicial proceedings — Measures of organisation of procedure — Request for production of documents — Obligations of the claimant (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 64(3)(d), and (4)) (see paras 105, 110)

2. Competition — Administrative procedure — Commission decision finding an infringement — Means of proof — Reliance on a body of evidence — Degree of evidential value necessary as regards items of evidence viewed in isolation — Judicial review — Scope (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 181-186)

3. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Prohibition — Infringements — Proof — Burden of proof on Commission — Proof adduced by a number of indicia and coincidences pointing to the existence and duration of continuous anti-competitive practices — Lack of evidence relating to certain specific periods of the overall period considered — No effect (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 187, 226, 308)

4. EU law — Principles — Fundamental rights — Presumption of innocence — Procedures in competition matters — Applicability (Art. 81(1) EC) (see para. 188)

5. Competition — Administrative procedure — Commission decision finding an infringement — Use as evidence of statements of other undertakings which participated in the infringement — Lawfulness — Probative value of voluntary depositions made by the main participants in a cartel with a view to benefiting from the Leniency Notice (Art. 81(1) EC; Commission Notice 2002/C 45/03) (see paras 189-191, 195-197)

6. Competition — Administrative procedure — Request for information — Powers of the Commission — Participation in a clemency programme — Non-coercive character (Art. 81 EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Arts 18 and 19; Commission Notice 2002/C 45/03) (see paras 192-194)

7. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Undertaking participating in anti-competitive initiatives — Whether sufficient, for an undertaking to be liable, that it tacitly approved without public distancing or denunciation to the competent authorities — Burden of proof on the undertaking (Art. 81(1) EC) (see...