Judgment of the General Court Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition, 26 March 2025, UBS Group and UBS v Commission European Government Bonds, T-441/21, T-449/21, T-453/21, T-455/21, T-456/21 and T-462/21

• Date: 26 March 2025
• Year: 2025

13

Third, social integration in a State, whether the receiv ing State or the sending State, is a relevant

factor for the purposes of determining the habitual residence of the spouses. That integration is such

as to giv e concrete expression to the subjective element relating to the intention of the part ies

concerned to establish t he habitual centre of their interests in a particular place. F amily t ies

maintained in the sending State or, on the contrary, those created in the receiving State may also be

relevant in t he cont ext of t he analysis of all th e factu al circumstan ces specific t o the indiv idual case.

In any event, in accordance with the Court’s case-law in relation to Regulation No 2201/2003, wh ich

can be transposed to the interpretation of the concept of ‘[habitual residence]’ within the meaning of

Article 8(a) and (b) of Regulation No 1259/2010, a spouse who divides his o r her time between two

Member St ates may have his or her ha bitual residen ce in only one of those S tates.

The Court concludes that Article 8(a) and (b) of Regulation No 1259/2010 must be interpreted as

meaning that the status of diplomatic agent of one of the spouses and his or her assignment to a post

in the receiving State preclude, in principle, the ‘habitual residence’ of the spouses from being

considered to be established in that State. The position would be different if, following an overall

assessment of all the circumstances specific to the case, including, in particular, the duration of the

spouses’ physical presence and their social and family integrat ion in that State, it was determined (i)

that the spouses intend to establish in that State the habitual centre of their interests and (ii) that

there is a sufficientl y stable presence in th e territ ory o f that S tate.

V. COMPETITION

1. AGREEMENTS, DECISIONS AND CONCERTED PRACTICES (AR TICLE 101 TFEU)

Judgment of the General Cour t (Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition), 26 March 2025,

UBS Gr oup and U BS v Commission (Eur opean Government B onds), T-441/21, T-449/21,

T-453/21, T-455/21, T-456/21 and T-462/21

Link to the judgment as published in extract form

Competition – Ag reements, decisions and concerted practices – European Government Bonds sector –

Decision finding an infringement of Article 101 TFE U and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement – Coo rdina tion

of prices and bond-trading acti vities – Exchanges of commercially sensitive information – Single and

continuous infringement – R estriction of co mpetit ion by ob jec t – Legitimate interest in finding of

infringements – Calculation of the amount of the fine – Basic amount – Proxy for value of sales – Unlimited

jurisdiction

The General Court, sitting in extended composition, confirms the decision of the European

Commission 19 finding that the banks UBS Group AG and UBS AG (‘UBS’), NatWest Group plc, NatWest

Markets plc and NatWest Markets NV. (‘Natwest’), Natixis, UniCredit SpA and UniCredit Bank AG

(‘UniCredit’), Nomura International plc and Nomura Holdings, Inc. (‘Nomura’), Bank of America N. A.

and Bank of America Corporation (‘BofA’), and Portigon AG had participated in a cartel in the

European Government Bonds (‘EGBs’) sector. Nevertheless, as a result of errors on the part of the

Commission in the determination of the duration of UniCredit’s participation in that infringement and

in the calculation of the fine to be paid by Nomura, the Court reduces the amount of the fines

imposed on t hose banks.

In 2015, further to an application for leniency submitted by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc and

The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (‘RBS’), which became NatWest, the Commission opened an

19 Commission Decision C(2021) 3489 fin al of 20 May 2021 r elating to a proceed ing un der Article 101 TFEU and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement

(Case AT .40324 – European Government Bonds) (‘the contested decision’).