Order of the President of the of the Court of First Instance of 23 November 2017 — Nexans France and Nexans v Commission

(Case T‑423/17 R)

(Interim relief — Competition — Power cables — Rejection of the request for confidential treatment of certain information contained in a decision establishing an infringement of Article 101 TFEU — Application for interim measures — Lack of urgency)

1. Application for interim measures—Suspension of operation of a measure—Interim measures—Conditions for granting—Prima facie case—Urgency—Serious and irreparable damage—Cumulative nature—Balancing of all the interests involved—Order of examination and method of verification—Discretion of the court hearing the application for interim relief (Arts 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 156(4)) (see paras 18-21)

2. Application for interim measures—Suspension of operation of a measure—Interim measures—Conditions for granting—Urgency—Serious and irreparable damage—Burden of proof—Purely hypothetical damage based on the happening of future and uncertain events—Insufficient to demonstrate urgency (Arts 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU) (see paras 24, 25)

3. Application for interim measures—Suspension of operation of a measure—Interim measures—Conditions for granting—Urgency—Serious and irreparable damage—Burden of proof—Financial loss—Obligation to provide concrete and precise indications, supported by detailed documentary evidence—Situation liable to endanger the existence of the applicant company (Art. 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 156(4)) (see paras 27-30)

4. Application for interim measures—Formal requirements—Submission of applications—Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based—Pleas in law not set out in the application and pleadings—General reference to other documents—Inadmissibility (Arts 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 156(4) and (5)) (see para. 31)

5. Application for interim measures—Suspension of operation of a measure—Interim measures—Conditions for granting—Serious and irreparable damage—Damage caused by the publication of information in the course of competition proceedings—Decisive cause of the damage arising from infringement of competition law and not from disclosure of information that may be used as evidence in an action for damages against the person responsible for the infringement (Arts 101(1), TFEU, 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU) (see paras 50, 51, 56, 58, 64)

6. Application for interim measures—Suspension of operation of a measure—Interim measures—Conditions for granting—Serious and irreparable damage—Risk of fundamental rights being undermined—Risk not in itself constituting serious damage (Arts 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Arts 4 and 47) (see paras 79, 80)

Re:

APPLICATION based on Articles 278 TFEU and 279 TFEU, seeking, first, a suspension of operation of Commission Decision C(2017) 3051 final of 2 May 2017 relating to a request for confidential treatment (Case COMP/AT.39610 — Power Cables) in so far as that request is refused in respect of the material seized from the applicants and another economic operator and, second, an order requiring the Commission to refrain from publishing a version of its Decision C(2014) 2139 final of 2 April 2014 (Case COMP/AT.39610 — Power Cables), which contains that material.

Operative part

1. The application for interim measures is rejected.

2. The order of 12 July 2017, Nexans France and Nexans v Commission (T‑423/17 R) is set aside.