Case T-325/01: Judgment of the Court of First Instance of  15 September 2005  — DaimlerChrysler v Commission (Competition — Article 81 EC — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Agency agreement — Distribution of motor vehicles — Economic unit — Measures designed to hinder parallel trade in motor vehicles — Price-fixing — Regulation (EC) No 1475/95 — Fine)
Date: 2005-11-26
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, action for annulment (EU), competition, exclusive distribution agreement, motor vehicle industry, selling price

C 296/20

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.11.2005

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 15 September
2005 — DaimlerChrysler v Commission

5) Dismisses the remainder of the action;

(Case T-325/01) (1)

(Competition — Article 81 EC — Agreements, decisions and
concerted practices — Agency agreement — Distribution of
motor vehicles — Economic unit — Measures designed to
hinder parallel trade in motor vehicles — Price-fixing —
Regulation (EC) No 1475/95 — Fine)

6) Orders the Commission to bear its own costs and to pay 60 % of
those incurred by the applicant, and the applicant to bear 40 %
its own costs.

(1) OJ C 68 of 16.3.2002.

(2005/C 296/42)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 6 October 2005
— Sumitomo Chemical and Sumika Fine Chemicals v
Commission

Applicant(s): Daimler Chrysler AG (Stuttgart, Germany) (repre-
sented by: R. Bechtold and W. Bosch, lawyers)

(Joined Cases T-22/02 and T-23/02) (1)

Defendant(s): Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: W. Mölls, Agent, assisted by H.-J. Freund, lawyer)

Application for

Primarly, annulment of Commission Decision 2002/58/EC of
10 October 2001 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of
the EC Treaty (Case COMP/36.264 — Mercedes-Benz)
(OJ
2002 L 257, p. 1) and, in the alternative, reduction in the fine
imposed by that decision

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1) Annuls Article 1 of Commission Decision 2002/758/EC of
10 October 2001 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of
the EC Treaty (Case COMP/36.264 — Mercedes-Benz) save in
so far as it finds that DaimlerChrysler AG and its legal predeces-
sors Daimler-Benz AG and Mercedes-Benz AG have themselves or
through their subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Belgium SA infringed
Article 81(1) EC by participating in agreements to restrict the
granting of discounts in Belgium, those agreements having been
concluded on 20 April 1995 and terminated on 10 July 1999;

2) Annuls Article 2 with the exception of the first sentence;

3) Annuls Article 3 of Decision 2002/758 in so far as it sets the
amount of the fine imposed on the applicant at EUR 71.825
million;

4) Sets the amount of the fine imposed by Article 3 of Decision
relating to price-fixing in

infringement

2002/758 for
Belgium at EUR 9.8 million;

the

(Competition — Cartels in the vitamin sector — Commission
Decision finding infringements that have ceased and not
imposing fines — Regulation (EEC) No 2988/74 — Time-
limit on the power of the Commission to impose fines or
penalties — Principle of legal certainty — Presumption of
innocence — Legitimate interest in finding that infringe-
ments have been committed)

(2005/C 296/43)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant(s): Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd (Tokyo, Japan) and
Sumika Fine Chemicals Co. Ltd (Osaka, Japan)) (represented by
M. Klusmann, lawyer, and V. Turner, Solicitor)

Defendant(s): Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by L. Pignataro-Nolin and A. Whelan, agents)

Application for

annulment of Commission Decision 2003/2/EC of 21
November 2001 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article
81 EC and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/E-1/
37.512 — Vitamins) (OJ 2003 L 6, p. 1) in so far as it concerns
the applicants