CELEX: 62020CA0117
Language: en
Date: 2022-03-22 00:00:00
Title: Case C-117/20: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 22 March 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour d’appel de Bruxelles — Belgium) — bpost SA v Autorité belge de la concurrence (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Competition — Postal services — Tariff system adopted by a universal service provider — Fine imposed by a national postal regulator — Fine imposed by a national competition authority — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Article 50 — Non bis in idem principle — Existence of the same offence — Article 52(1) — Limitations to the non bis in idem principle — Duplication of proceedings and penalties — Conditions — Pursuit of an objective of general interest — Proportionality)

16.5.2022   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 198/3
            
         
      Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 22 March 2022 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour d’appel de Bruxelles — Belgium) — bpost SA v Autorité belge de la concurrence
      (Case C-117/20) (1)
      
      (Reference for a preliminary ruling - Competition - Postal services - Tariff system adopted by a universal service provider - Fine imposed by a national postal regulator - Fine imposed by a national competition authority - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Article 50 - Non bis in idem principle - Existence of the same offence - Article 52(1) - Limitations to the non bis in idem principle - Duplication of proceedings and penalties - Conditions - Pursuit of an objective of general interest - Proportionality)
      (2022/C 198/04)
      Language of the case: French
      
         Referring court
      
      Cour d’appel de Bruxelles
      
         Parties to the main proceedings
      
      
         Applicant: bpost SA
      
         Defendant: Autorité belge de la concurrence
      
         Intervening parties: Publimail SA, European Commission
      
         Operative part of the judgment
      
      Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, read in conjunction with Article 52(1) thereof, must be interpreted as not precluding a legal person from being fined for an infringement of EU competition law where, on the same facts, that person has already been the subject of a final decision following proceedings relating to an infringement of sectoral rules concerning the liberalisation of the relevant market, provided that there are clear and precise rules making it possible to predict which acts or omissions are liable to be subject to a duplication of proceedings and penalties, and also to predict that there will be coordination between the two competent authorities; that the two sets of proceedings have been conducted in a sufficiently coordinated manner within a proximate timeframe; and that the overall penalties imposed correspond to the seriousness of the offences committed.
      
         (1)  OJ C 161, 11.5.2020.