Case T-38/07: Action brought on 16 February 2007 — Shell Petroleum and Others v Commission
Date: 2007-02-16
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, action for annulment (EU), exchange of information, fine, price agreement, restriction on competition, rubber industry, trade information, unlawful agreement

14.4.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 82/45

Action brought on 16 February 2007 — Shell Petroleum
and Others v Commission

(Case T-38/07)

(2007/C 82/96)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicants: Shell Petroleum NV (The Hague, The Netherlands),
Shell Nederland BV (The Hague, The Netherlands) and Shell
Nederland Chemie BV (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
(repre-
sented by: T. Snoep and J. Brockhoff, lawyers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

SPNV requests the Court:

— to annul the decision, in full, insofar as it is addressed to

SPNV;

— in the alternative:

— to annul Article 2(d) of the decision, or

— to reduce the fine imposed as appropriate; and

— to order the Commission to pay the costs.

SNBV requests the Court:

In support of their application, the applicants submit that the
Commission violated Article 81 EC and Articles 7 and 23(2)
and (3) of Council Regulation No 1/2003 (1) by:

a) imputing the infringement also to Shell Petroleum NV and
Shell Nederland BV even though the Commission acknowl-
edges that only Shell Nederland Chemie BV participated
directly in the infringement;

b) increasing the basic amount of the fine to be imposed on the
applicants by 50 % for recidivism in breach of the principles
of proportionality and legal certainty;

c) applying a multiplier for deterrence in breach of the princi-

ples of equal treatment and proportionality; and

d) setting the starting amount of the fine to be imposed on the
applicants in breach of the Guidelines on the method of
setting fines (2) and the principles of proportionality and
equal treatment.

In the alternative, the applicants invoke a violation of the duty
to state reasons under Article 253 EC.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the
implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81
and 82 of the Treaty (OJ 2003 L 1, p. 1).

(2) Commission Notice of 14 January 1998 entitled ‘Guidelines on the
method of setting fines imposed pursuant to Article 15(2) of Regu-
lation No 17 and Article 65(5) of the ECSC Treaty’ (OJ 1998 C 9,
p. 3).

— to annul the decision, in full, insofar as it is addressed to

Action brought on 6 February 2007 — ENI v Commission

SNBV;

— in the alternative:

— to annul Article 2(d) of the decision, or

(Case T-39/07)

(2007/C 82/97)

— to reduce the fine imposed as appropriate; and

Language of the case: Italian

— to order the Commission to pay the costs.

SNC requests the Court:

— to annul Article 2(d) of the decision or to reduce the fine

imposed as appropriate; and

— to order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicants seek the annulment of Commission Decision
C(2006) 5700 final of 29 November 2006 in Case
COMP/F/38.638 — Butadiene Rubber and Emulsion Styrene
Butadiene Rubber, by which the Commission found that the
applicants,
together with other undertakings, had infringed
Article 81 EC and Article 53 of the Agreement on the European
Economic Area by agreeing on price targets for the products,
sharing customers by non-aggression agreements and exchan-
ging commercial information relating to prices, competitors and
customers.

Parties

Applicant: ENI SpA (Rome,
G.M. Roberti and I Perego, lawyers)

Italy)

(represented by: Prof.

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

— annul that part of the contested decision which holds the
applicant responsible for the conduct that is being penalised;

— annul or reduce the fine imposed under Article 2 of the

decision;

— order the Commission to pay the costs.