CELEX: 62006CJ0266
Language: en
Date: 2008-05-22 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 22 May 2008. # Evonik Degussa GmbH v Commission of the European Communities. # Appeal - Competition - Cartel - Market in methionine - Fine - Regulation No 17 - Article 15(2) - Nulla poena sine lege - Distortion of the facts - Principle of proportionality - Principle of equal treatment. # Case C-266/06 P.

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 22 May 2008 – Degussa v Commission
      (Case C-266/06 P)
      Appeal – Competition – Cartel – Market in methionine – Fine – Regulation No 17 – Article 15(2) – Nulla poena sine lege – Distortion of the facts – Principle of proportionality – Principle of equal treatment
      1.                     Community law – General legal principles – Legal certainty – Nulla poena sine lege – Scope (see paras 38-40, 44-46)
      2.                     Competition – Fines – Amount – Determination – Discretion conferred on the Commission by Article 15(2) of Regulation No 17
            (Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2); Commission Notice 98/C 9/03) (see paras 50-62)
      3.                     Appeals – Grounds – Mistaken assessment of the facts – Inadmissibility – Review by the Court of Justice of the assessment
            of the evidence – Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted (Art. 225(1) EC; Statute of the Court
            of Justice, Art. 58, first para.) (see paras 72-74, 86, 94)
      4.                     Appeals – Jurisdiction of the Court – Whether it may review, on grounds of fairness, the appraisal at first instance of the
            amount of a fine imposed on an undertaking – Not included – Whether it may review that appraisal on the ground that the principle
            of non-discrimination was infringed – Included (Art. 81(1), EC; Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2)) (see paras 95, 114)
      5.                     Appeals – Grounds – Inadequate or contradictory grounds – Admissibility – Reliance by the Court of First Instance on implied
            reasoning – Whether lawful – Conditions (Art. 225(1) EC; Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 36, 53, first para., and 58,
            first para.) (see paras 102-103)
      6.                     Competition – Fines – Amount – Determination – Criteria – Need to distinguish between the undertakings involved in the same
            infringement according to their total turnover – None (Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2); Commission Notice 98/C 9/03,
            para. 1A, fifth subpara.) (see paras 119-123)
      Re: 
      
         Appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (Third Chamber) of 5 April 2006 in Case T-279/02 
               Degussa AG
                v 
               Commission
               , in which that Court dismissed in part the action seeking annulment of Commission Decision 2003/674/EC of 2 July 2002 relating
                  to a proceeding pursuant to Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (OJ 2003 L 255, p. 1) – Cartel
                  concerning the market in methionine – Requirements of the principle of 
               
               nulla poena sine lege
                in relation to the system of fines laid down by Article 15(2) of Regulation No 17.
            Operative part
      The Court: 
      
         
                  1.
               
               
                  
               
               
                  	Dismisses the appeal;
               
            
         
                  2.
               
               
                  
               
               
                  	Orders Evonik Degussa GmbH to bear the costs;
               
            
         
                  3.
               
               
                  
               
               
                  	Orders the Council of the European Union to pay its own costs.