CELEX: C2002/017/25
Language: en
Date: 2002-01-19 00:00:00
Title: Case T-236/01: Action brought on 1 October 2001 by Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd. against the Commission of the European Communities

C 17/14                EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      19.1.2002
Action brought on 1 October 2001 by Tokai Carbon Co.,                    By its action, the applicant does not seek the annulment of the
Ltd. against the Commission of the European Communi-                     decision, but the annulment, or at least the substantial
                               ties                                      reduction, of the fine imposed. The applicant submits that the
                                                                         Commission should not have relied on worldwide turnover or
                                                                         worldwide market share in order to determine the starting
                                                                         level of the fine to be imposed on each of the firms participating
                        (Case T-236/01)                                  in the collusion, but should instead have considered their
                                                                         sales/market share in the EEA for this purpose.
                         (2002/C 17/25)
                                                                         The applicant alleges that, in an attempt to punish the
                                                                         applicant for its participation in the global cartel, but without
                   (Language of the case: English)                       any focus on the limited role it played in Europe, the
                                                                         Commission exceeded its jurisdiction. By relying exclusively
                                                                         on worldwide sales as a measure of each defendant’s capacity
                                                                         to cause harm to competition, the Commission has infringed
                                                                         the EC Treaty by violating the principle ‘ne bis in idem’.
                                                                         Furthermore, by dividing the undertakings concerned into
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                three categories on the basis of arbitrarily chosen criteria and
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the               by punishing the applicant much more harshly than several
European Communities on 1 October 2001 by Tokai Car-                     of the other undertakings, the Commission has infringed
bon Co., Ltd, represented by Mr Gerwin Van Gerven, Mr Tho-               Article 253 EC and the principles of equal treatment and
mas Franchoo and Mr Martijn De Grave of Linklat-                         proportionality.
ers & Alliance, Brussels (Belgium).
                                                                         Finally, the applicant states that the Commission has commit-
The applicant claims that the Court should:                              ted a manifest error of assessment e.g. by attributing an
                                                                         incorrect market share to the applicant and by denying the
                                                                         applicant the benefit of attenuating circumstances, while at the
—     annul Article 3 (and in so far as necessary Article 4) of          same time permitting another firm to benefit from them.
      the Commission decision of 18 July 2001 in Case
      COMP/E-1/36.490 — Graphite electrodes, in so far as it
      imposes a fine of EUR 24.5 million on Tokai, or, at least,
      substantially reduce that fine; and
—     order the Commission to pay the costs.
                                                                         Action brought on 3 October 2001 by Nippon Carbon
                                                                         Co., Ltd. against the Commission of the European Com-
Pleas in law and main arguments                                                                        munities
                                                                                                   (Case T-244/01)
The applicant is a Japanese company, active in the carbon
industry. In its reply to the Commission’s statement of
objections concerning a cartel in the graphic electrode sector,                                     (2002/C 17/26)
which has also been the subject of parallel investigations in
other states, e.g. in the United States, the applicant acknowl-
edged that its participation in the collusive arrangements
concerned constituted a violation of the EC competition rules.                               (Language of the case: English)
In the contested decision, the Commission found that eight
undertakings, including the applicant, had participated in a             An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
global cartel, the object of which was inter alia to allocate            ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
markets on a worldwide level, and thus to withhold competi-              European Communities on 3 October 2001 by Nippon Carbon
tive reserves from the EEA market. The decision imposed fines            Co., Ltd., represented by Mr H. Gilliams of Eubelius Advocaten,
on the companies involved.                                               Brussels (Belgium).