Judgments (Information) nº T-496/07 of The General Court, September 16, 2013

• Resolution Date: September 16, 2013
• Issuing Organization: The General Court
• Decision Number: T-496/07

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Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 16 September 2013 —Repsol Lubricantes y Especialidades and Others v Commission (Case T‑496/07)

Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Spanish market for penetration bitumen — Annual market-sharing and price-fixing agreements — Rights of defence — Imputability of the unlawful conduct — Principle that penalties must be specific to the offender — Calculation of the amount of the fine — Res judicata

1. Judicial proceedings — Introduction of new pleas during the proceedings — Plea raised for the first time at the hearing — Inadmissibility (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 48(2), first para.) (see para. 102)

2. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision imposing fines for breach of the competition rules and concerning a number of addressees — Imputation of the practices of a subsidiary to its parent company — Need for an express statement of reasons (Arts 81 EC and 253 EC) (see paras 107-110)

3. Competition — Union rules — Infringements — Attribution — Parent company and subsidiaries — Economic unit — Criteria for assessment — Presumption that a parent company exerts a decisive influence over its wholly-owned subsidiaries — Rebuttable — Burden of proof (Art. 81 EC; Council Regulations No 17, Art. 15(2), and No 1/2003, Art. 23(2)) (see paras 130-136, 143)

4. Competition — Union rules — Infringements — Attribution — Parent company and subsidiaries — Economic unit — Criteria for assessment — Presumption that a parent company exerts a decisive influence over its wholly-owned subsidiaries — No infringement of principle that penalties should be individual to the offender (Art. 81 EC; Council Regulations No 17, Art. 15(2), and No 1/2003, Art. 23(2)) (see paras 147-151)

5. Competition — Union rules — Infringements — Attribution — Parent company and subsidiaries — Economic unit — Liability of parent company not capable of being regarded as no-fault liability (Art. 81 EC) (see para. 152)

6. Competition — Union rules — Infringements — Attribution — Parent company and subsidiaries — Economic unit — Criteria for assessment — Presumption of dominant influence exercised by parent company over its wholly-owned or almost wholly-owned subsidiaries — Evidential obligations of the company seeking to rebut that presumption — Factors insufficient to rebut the presumption (Art. 81 EC) (see paras 156-158, 166, 179-182, 186, 189, 196, 197,...