Case T-482/07: Action brought on 20 December 2007 — Nynäs Petroleum and Nynas Petróleo v Commission
Date: 2007-12-20
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: European Commission, Spain, Sweden, action for annulment (EU), bituminous materials, fine, price agreement, restrictive trade practice

C 51/56

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

23.2.2008

Action brought on 20 December 2007 — Nynäs Petroleum
and Nynas Petróleo v Commission

(Case T-482/07)

(2008/C 51/101)

Language of the case: English

(iii) Finally, the applicants contend that the Commission erred
in its assessment of the degree of involvement by Nynas in
aspects to the infringements and in setting the appropriate
level of the fine to be imposed on Nynas.

Action brought on 22 December 2007 — Romania v
Commission of the European Communities

Parties

Applicants: AB Nynäs Petroleum (Stockholm, Sweden) and
Nynas Petróleo, SA (Madrid, Spain) (represented by: D. Beard,
Barrister and M. Dean, Solicitor)

(Case T-483/07)

(2008/C 51/102)

Language of the case: Romanian

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Parties

Form of order sought

— Annulment of Article 1 of the decision insofar as it applies

to Nynas for the period 1991-1996;

— annulment of Article 1 of the decision insofar as it applies

to Nynas in respect of price coordination;

— annulment of Article 2 of the decision insofar as it imposes
fines
SA and
EUR 10 395 000 on AB Nynäs or, in the alternative, reduce
that fine as appropriate;

10 642 500

on Nynas

EUR

of

— order that the Commission pays the costs of the appeal.

Applicant: Romania (represented by: Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea,
Agent, Emilia Gane and Dumitra Mereuță, Advisers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Forms of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court of First Instance should:

— Annul the Commission's decision (C(2007) 5240 final) of
26 October 2007 concerning the national allocation plan
for greenhouse gas emission certificates for the year 2007,
notified by Romania pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council;

— Order the Commission of the European Communities to

pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Pleas in law and main arguments

this application partial annulment

is sought,
By means of
pursuant
to Article 230 EC, of Commission Decision
C(2007) 4441 final of 3 October 2007 relating to a proceeding
under Article 81 EC (Case COMP/38.710 — Bitumen — Spain)
by which the Commission found that the applicants, Nynäs
Petroleum and Nynas Petróleo (together ‘Nynas’), among other
undertakings, participated in a set of agreements and concerted
practices in the penetration bitumen business which covered the
territory of Spain and which consisted in market sharing agree-
ments and price coordination; as well as/or reduction of the
fine imposed on the applicant, pursuant to Article 229 EC.

The grounds of the appeal are based on the following pleas:

(i) It is claimed that the Commission erred in its assessment of
the duration of the involvement of Nynas in the alleged
market allocation arrangements,
in particular, by holding
that Nynas has participated in the alleged infringement
between 1991 and 1996.

(ii) It is further submitted that the Commission erred in its
finding that Nynas were involved in the alleged pricing
infringements.

By the contested decision, the Commission rejected in part the
national allocation plan for greenhouse gas emission certificates
for the year 2007, notified by Romania pursuant to Directive
2003/87/EC (1), reducing by 9,080765 million tonnes of CO2,
equivalent per year the overall number of certificates that will
be allocated for the Community scheme and establishing that
the average overall annual volume covered by the emission
quotas that may be allocated will not exceed 74,836235 million
tonnes.

In support of its action, the applicant submits as follows:

— the Commission has failed to comply with Article 9(1) and
(3) and Article 11(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC, in that it has
established, with binding force, on the basis of a method of
its own, the overall volume of the emission quotas that can
be allocated by Romania, thus encroaching upon the latter's
sphere of competence;

— the Commission has applied a method wholly lacking in
transparency for the purposes of determining the overall
volumes of the emission quotas, thus infringing not only
Article 9(1) of Directive 2003/87/EC, but also Article 9(3)
thereof;