Order of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 13 September 2012 — Total and Elf Aquitaine v Commission(Case C-495/11 P)
Appeal — Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 — Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Infringement of the principles of conferred powers and of proportionality — Manifestly incorrect interpretation — Infringement of the rights of the defence and of the principles of equity and of the equality of arms — Duty to state reasons
1.                     Appeals — Grounds — Requirement that criticism of the reasoning of the General Court be specific (Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of
the Court of Justice, Art. 58; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 112(1)(c)) (see paras 14, 29, 72, 84)
2.                     Competition — European Union rules — Infringements — Attribution — Parent company and subsidiaries — Economic unit — Criteria
for assessment — Presumption of a decisive influence exerted by the parent company over its wholly-owned subsidiaries — Evidential
obligations of the company seeking to rebut that presumption (Art. 101 TFEU) (see paras 26, 28, 31, 36, 42, 57)
3.                     Acts of the institutions — Grounds — Obligation — Scope — Decision imposing fines for the infringement of the competition
rules and concerning a number or addressees — Attribution of the practices of a subsidiary to its parent company — Requirements
of explicit grounds (Arts 101 TFEU and 296, second para. TFEU) (see paras 48-49, 51)
4.                     Appeals — Grounds — Review by the Court of the assessment of the facts submitted to the General Court — Possible only where
the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted (Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.)
(see para. 52)
5.                     Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Deterrent effect — Taking account of the size and overall resources of the
undertaking on which the fine was imposed (Art. 101 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23) (see para. 80)
Re:
Appeal brought against the judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber, Extended Composition) of 14 July 2011 in Case T-190/06
Total and Elf Aquitaine
v
Commission
by which that Court dismissed the action for partial annulment of Commission Decision C(2006) 1766 final of 3 May 2006 relating
to a proceeding under Article 81 [EC] and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/F/38.620 — Hydrogen peroxide and perborate) —
Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Infringement of the principles of conferred powers and of proportionality —
Manifestly incorrect interpretation — Infringement of the rights of the defence and of the principles of equity and of the
equality of arms — Duty to state reasons.
Operative part
1.
The appeal is dismissed.
2.
Total SA and Elf Aquitaine SA are ordered to pay the costs.