Judgment of the General Court of 5 October 2020 — Les Mousquetaires and ITM Entreprises v Commission

(Case T-255/17) (1)

(Competition - Agreements, decisions and concerted practices - Administrative procedure - Decisions ordering an inspection - Plea of illegality against Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 - Right to an effective remedy - Obligation to state reasons - Right to inviolability of the home - Sufficiently strong evidence - Proportionality - Action for annulment - Complaints relating to manner of conduction the inspection - Refusal to protect the confidentiality of data relating to private life - Inadmissibility)

(2020/C 414/51)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicants: Les Mousquetaires (Paris, France) and ITM Entreprises (Paris) (represented by: N. Jalabert-Doury, B. Chemama and K. Mebarek, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: B. Mongin, A. Dawes and I. Rogalski, acting as Agents, and by F. Ninane, lawyer)

Intervener in support of the defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: S. Boelaert, S. Petrova and O. Segnana, acting as Agents)

Re:

Application based on Article 263 TFEU, seeking annulment, first, principally, of Commission Decision C(2017) 1361 (final) of 21 February 2017 ordering Les Mousquetaires and all the companies directly or indirectly controlled by it to submit to an inspection in accordance with Article 20(1) and (4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (Case AT. 40466 — Tute 1) and Commission Decision C(2017) 1360 (final) of 21 February 2017 ordering Les Mousquetaires and all the companies directly or indirectly controlled by it to submit to an inspection in accordance with Article 20(1) and (4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (Case AT.40467 — Tute 2) and, in the alternative, of Commission Decision C(2017)1057 (final) of 9 February 2017 ordering Intermarché and all the companies directly or indirectly controlled by it to submit to an inspection in accordance with Article 20(1) and (4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (Case AT.40466 — Tute 1) and Commission Decision C(2017) 1061 (final) of 9 February 2017 ordering Intermarché and all the companies directly or indirectly controlled by it to submit to an inspection in accordance with Article 20(1) and (4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (Case AT.40467) — Tute 2); and, second, of the decision by which the Commission (i) seized and copied the data held on communication and storage tools containing data concerning the private life of the users of those tools; and (ii) rejected the applicants’ request for the return of those data.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Annuls Article 1(b) of Commission Decision C(2017) 1057 (final) of 9 February 2017 ordering Intermarché and all the companies directly or indirectly controlled by it to submit to an inspection in accordance with Article 20(1) and (4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (Case AT.40466 — Tute 1) and Article 1(b) of Commission Decision C(2017) 1361 (final) of 21 February 2017 ordering Les Mousquetaires and all the companies directly or indirectly controlled by it to submit to an inspection in accordance with Article 20(1) and (4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (Case AT.40466 — Tute 1);

2. Dismisses the remainder of the action;

3. Orders Les Mousquetaires and ITM Entreprises, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union each to bear their own costs.

(1) OJ C 231, 17.7.2017.