Case T‑551/08

H&R ChemPharm GmbH

v

European Commission

‛Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Market for paraffin waxes — Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC — Price-fixing — Evidence of the infringement — 2006 Guidelines on the method of setting fines — Reference period — Calculation of the value of sales — Gravity of the infringement — Concentration occurring during the infringement period — Equal treatment — Proportionality’

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber), 12 December 2014

Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision imposing fines for breach of the competition rules and concerning a number of addressees — Need for a sufficient statement of reasons in relation to each of the addressees (Arts 81 EC and 253 EC)

Competition — Administrative procedure — Commission decision finding an infringement — Use of a joint designation for two companies belonging to the same group and having personnel and vertical links — No infringement of Article 81 EC (Art. 81(1) EC)

Competition — EU rules — Infringements — Attribution — Imputability to an undertaking of the conduct of its organs — Conditions (Art. 81 EC)

Competition — Administrative procedure — Statement of objections — Necessary content — Observance of the rights of the defence — Undertakings afforded the opportunity to make known their views on the facts, objections and circumstances alleged by the Commission (Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 27(1))

Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Agreements between undertakings — Concept — Joint intention as to the conduct to be adopted on the market — Included — Pursuance of negotiations on certain aspects of the restriction — No effect (Art. 81(1) EC)

Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Concerted practice — Concept — Coordination and cooperation incompatible with the obligation on each undertaking to determine independently its conduct on the market — Exchange of information between competitors — Anti-competitive object or effect (Art. 81(1) EC)

Competition — Administrative procedure — Commission decision finding an infringement — Burden of proof — Proof adduced by a number of different manifestations of the infringement — Lawfulness — Reliance on a body of evidence — Degree of evidential value necessary as regards items of evidence viewed in isolation — Documentary proof — Criteria — Reliability of evidence produced — Evidential obligations of undertakings disputing the reality of the infringement (Art. 81(1) EC)

EU law — Principles — Fundamental rights — Presumption of innocence — Procedures in competition matters — Applicability — Scope — Consequences (Art. 81(1) EC)

Competition — Administrative procedure — Commission decision finding an infringement — Burden of proving the infringement and its duration on the Commission — Probative value of voluntary statements incriminating an undertaking by the main participants in a cartel in order to benefit from application of the Leniency Notice — Statements going against the interests of the said undertaking — High probative value (Art. 81(1) EC; Commission Notice 2002/C 45/03)

Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Agreements between undertakings — Concept — Participation in meetings having an anti-competitive object — Included — Condition — Undertaking concerned not having distanced itself from the decisions adopted — Criteria for assessment (Art. 81(1) EC)

Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Agreements and concerted practices constituting a single infringement — Undertakings that may be held responsible for participating in an overall cartel — Criteria (Art. 81(1) EC)

Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Method of calculation laid down by the guidelines drawn up by the Commission — Calculation of the basic amount of the fine — Determination of the value of sales — Criteria — Reference period for calculating the value of sales — Merger occurring during the cartel — Account taken of turnover of acquired companies — Whether value of sales during the reference period representative — Assessment (Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23(2); Commission Notice 2006/C 210/02, point 6)

Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Method of calculation laid down by the guidelines drawn up by the Commission — Calculation of the basic amount of the fine — Determination of the value of sales — Criteria — Use of the best available data of the incriminated undertaking — No infringement of Article 23(3) of Regulation No 1/2003 (Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23(2); Commission Notice 2006/C 210/02, points 15 and 16)

Competition — Fines — Guidelines on the method of setting fines — Calculation method taking various elements of flexibility into account — Discretion of the Commission — Compliance with the principles of equal treatment and proportionality — Judicial review — Unlimited jurisdiction — Effect (Art. 229 EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Arts 23(2), and 31; Commission Notice 2006/C 210/02)

Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Method of calculation laid down by the guidelines drawn up by the Commission — Calculation of the basic amount of the fine — Determination of the value of sales — Criteria — Sales in direct or indirect relation to the infringement — Turnover achieved on the market as a whole affected by the infringement by the incriminated undertaking (Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23(2); Commission Notice 2006/C 210/02, point 13)

Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Discretion conferred on the Commission by Article 23(2) of Regulation No 1/2003 — Foreseeable character of amendments introduced by the new guidelines — No infringement of the principles of non-retroactivity and protection of legitimate expectations (Arts 81 EC and 82 EC; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 49(1); Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23(2); Commission Notices 98/C 9/03 and 2006/C 210/02)

Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Criteria — Gravity of the infringement — Determination of the fine proportionately to the assessment factors for the gravity of the infringement (Art. 81(1) EC; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 49(3); Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23(2) and (3); Commission Notice 2006/C 210/02)

Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Criteria — Overall turnover of the undertaking concerned — Turnover corresponding to the goods covered by the infringement — To be taken into consideration — Limits — Respect for the principles of proportionality and equal treatment (Art. 81(1) EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23(2); Commission Notice 2006/C 210/02)