Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 30 June 2016 — CB v Commission

(Case T‑491/07 RENV)

‛Competition — Decision by an association of undertakings — Market for the issue of payment cards in France — Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC — Pricing measures applicable to ‘new entrants’ — Membership fee, mechanism for ‘regulating the acquiring function’, and ‘dormant member “wake-up” mechanism’ — Relevant market — Restriction of competition by effect — Article 81(3) EC — Manifest errors of assessment — Principle of sound administration — Proportionality — Legal certainty’

1. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Prohibition — No rule of reason in Community competition law (Art. 81(1) and (3) EC) (see paras 67-70, 100, 126, 135)

2. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Adverse effect on competition — Assessment by reference to the economic and legal context — Application of the criteria to a biface system — Account taken of interactions between the relevant market and a distinct connected market (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 74-76, 82)

3. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Adverse effect on competition — Assessment by reference to the economic and legal context — Account taken of the impact of the agreement on the current and potential competitive situation and of that situation in the absence of an agreement (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 107-110, 125)

4. Act of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision to apply competition rules (Art. 81(1) EC; Art. 296 TFEU) (see para. 144)

5. Competition — Decision to apply competition rules — Judicial review — Scope — Review of legality both in law and in fact — Commission decision involving appraisal of a complex economic matter — Obligation to review the legal classification (Art. 81(1) EC; Arts 261 TFEU and 263 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 31) (see paras 158-160)

6. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Agreements between undertakings — Evidence of the infringement — Assessment of the probative value of various items of evidence — Criteria — Statements of undertakings (Art. 81(1) EC) (see paras 341, 353)

7. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Prohibition — Exemption — Conditions — Cumulative conditions — Burden of proof — Scope — Examination by the Commission (Art. 81(3) EC) (see paras 362-365, 435)

8. Competition — Administrative procedure — Powers of the Commission in verification matters — Limits — Principle of sound administration — Scope (Art. 81 EC; Council Regulations No 17, Art. 14, and No 1/2003, Art. 20) (see paras 437, 462)

9. Competition — Administrative procedure — Bringing infringements to an end — Commission’s powers — Corrective measures and undertakings — Limits — Compliance with the principle of sound administration (Art. 81 EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 9) (see para. 461)

10. Competition — Administrative procedure — Bringing infringements to an end — Commission’s powers — Injunctions to undertakings — Limits — Compliance with the principles of proportionality and legal certainty (Art. 81 EC; Council Regulations No 17, Art. 3(1), and No 1/2003, Art. 7(1)) (see paras 468, 477, 482-485, 488, 491)

11. Competition — Administrative procedure — Bringing infringements to an end — Commission’s powers — Scope in the context of Article 7 and Article 9 of Regulation No 1/2003 — Observance of the principle of proportionality — Judicial review — Scope (Art. 81 EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Arts 7(1), and 9(1)) (see para. 470)

Re:

APPLICATION under Article 263 TFEU seeking the annulment of Commission Decision C(2007) 5060 final of 17 October 2007 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 [EC] (COMP/D1/38606 — Groupement des cartes bancaires ‘CB’).

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls Commission Decision C(2007) 5060 final of 17 October 2007 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 [EC] (COMP/D1/38606 — Groupement des cartes bancaires ‘CB’) in so far as the European Commission ordered the Groupement, in Article 2, ‘in future to refrain from any act or any conduct having an identical or similar object’;

2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

3. Orders Groupement des cartes bancaires (CB) and the Commission to bear their own respective costs, including those incurred in the proceedings before the Court of Justice;