CELEX: C2002/068/22
Language: en
Date: 2002-03-16 00:00:00
Title: Case T-312/01: Action brought on 13 December 2001 by Jungbunzlauer AG against the Commission of the European Communities

C 68/12                EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                      16.3.2002
Action brought on 13 December 2001 by Jungbunzlauer                     With regard to the fine imposed, the applicant asserts, inter
AG against the Commission of the European Com-                          alia, that the Commission, when fixing the amount of the fine,
                             munities                                   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
                         (Case T-312/01)                                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
                          (2002/C 68/22)                                had already been imposed in the USA and Canada in respect
                                                                        of the same facts.
                  (Language of the case: German)
                                                                        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
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-               addition, the protracted length of the procedure had a twofold
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the              effect on the content of the decision, inasmuch as the latest
European Communities on 13 December 2001 by Jung-                       turnover figures were taken as the applicable basis and because
bunzlauer AG, of Basle, represented by Rainer Bechtold,                 the decision was not issued until after there had been a
Matthias Karl and Ulrich Soltész, lawyers.                              substantial tightening of the Commission’s practice in the
                                                                        imposition of fines, which significantly prejudiced the appli-
                                                                        cant’s position.
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;                                                         Action brought on 17 December 2001 by Coöperatieve
                                                                        Verkoop- en Productievereniging van Aardappelmeel en
—     order the Commission to pay the applicant’s costs.                Derivaten ‘AVEBE’ B.A. against the Commission of the
                                                                                            European Communities
                                                                                                (Case T-314/01)
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                                 (2002/C 68/23)
By the contested decision, the Commission found that the                                   (Language of the case: Dutch)
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.
                                                                        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-
The applicant is contesting that decision and asserts that it was       ve Verkoop- en Productievereniging van Aardappelmeel en
directed to the wrong addressee, inasmuch as it was only                Derivaten ‘AVEBE’ B.A., established at Veendam (Netherlands),
Jungbunzlauer Ladenburg GmbH, an associate company of the               represented by Cornelis Titus Dekker, with an address for
applicant, which had participated in the acts contrary to cartel        service in Luxembourg.
law described in the decision.
                                                                        The applicant claims that the Court should:
The applicant claims that the Commission wrongly assumed
that the infringement did not cease until 1995. Moreover, the
                                                                        —      annul the Commission’s decision C(2001) 2931 of
Commission has not conclusively shown that the applicant, or
                                                                               2 October 2001;
its associated company, had played the role of ‘ringleader’ —
on which ground the basic amount of the fine was wrongly
increased by 50 %.                                                      —      order the Commission to pay the costs.