Case T-312/01: Action brought on 13 December 2001 by Jungbunzlauer AG against the Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2002-03-16
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, action for annulment (EU), chemical industry, competition law, economic concentration

C 68/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

16.3.2002

Action brought on 13 December 2001 by Jungbunzlauer
AG against the Commission of the European Com-
munities

(Case T-312/01)

(2002/C 68/22)

(Language of the case: German)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 13 December 2001 by Jung-
bunzlauer AG, of Basle, represented by Rainer Bechtold,
Matthias Karl and Ulrich Soltész, lawyers.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— annul the Commission’s decision of 2 October 2001

(Case COM/E-1/36.756 — Sodium gluconate);

— alternatively, reduce the fine imposed in Article 3 of the

decision;

— order the Commission to pay the applicant’s costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By the contested decision, the Commission found that the
applicant and five other undertakings had participated in a
continuous and/or concerted practice in the sodium gluconate
sector and had thereby infringed Article 81(1) EC. Fines were
imposed on those undertakings.

The applicant is contesting that decision and asserts that it was
directed to the wrong addressee,
inasmuch as it was only
Jungbunzlauer Ladenburg GmbH, an associate company of the
applicant, which had participated in the acts contrary to cartel
law described in the decision.

With regard to the fine imposed, the applicant asserts, inter
alia, that the Commission, when fixing the amount of the fine,
failed to take account of the size of the undertakings concerned,
and likewise failed to pay sufficient regard to the economic
significance of the infringement. The Commission thereby
violated the principle of proportionality, its own guidelines
and its own practice. Furthermore, it committed an error of
assessment by refusing to take into account the fact that fines
had already been imposed in the USA and Canada in respect
of the same facts.

Finally, the applicant claims that its right to be heard in
accordance with the law has been violated, since the Com-
mission did not give it access to the entire investigation file. In
addition, the protracted length of the procedure had a twofold
effect on the content of the decision, inasmuch as the latest
turnover figures were taken as the applicable basis and because
the decision was not issued until after there had been a
substantial tightening of the Commission’s practice in the
imposition of fines, which significantly prejudiced the appli-
cant’s position.

Action brought on 17 December 2001 by Coöperatieve
Verkoop- en Productievereniging van Aardappelmeel en
Derivaten ‘AVEBE’ B.A. against the Commission of the
European Communities

(Case T-314/01)

(2002/C 68/23)

(Language of the case: Dutch)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 17 December 2001 by Coöperatie-
ve Verkoop- en Productievereniging van Aardappelmeel en
Derivaten ‘AVEBE’ B.A., established at Veendam (Netherlands),
represented by Cornelis Titus Dekker, with an address for
service in Luxembourg.

The applicant claims that the Commission wrongly assumed
that the infringement did not cease until 1995. Moreover, the
Commission has not conclusively shown that the applicant, or
its associated company, had played the role of ‘ringleader’ —
on which ground the basic amount of the fine was wrongly
increased by 50 %.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— annul

the Commission’s decision C(2001) 2931 of

2 October 2001;

— order the Commission to pay the costs.