CELEX: 62009CA0360
Language: en
Date: 2011-06-14 00:00:00
Title: Case C-360/09: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 14 June 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Amtsgericht Bonn (Germany)) — Pfleiderer AG v Bundeskartellamt (Competition — Administrative procedure — Documents and information provided under a national leniency programme — Possible negative effects of third-party access to such documents on the effectiveness and proper functioning of cooperation between the authorities forming the European Competition Network)

6.8.2011   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 232/5
            
         Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 14 June 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Amtsgericht Bonn (Germany)) — Pfleiderer AG v Bundeskartellamt
   (Case C-360/09) (1)
   
   (Competition - Administrative procedure - Documents and information provided under a national leniency programme - Possible negative effects of third-party access to such documents on the effectiveness and proper functioning of cooperation between the authorities forming the European Competition Network)
   2011/C 232/08
   Language of the case: German
   
      Referring court
   
   Amtsgericht Bonn
   
      Parties to the main proceedings
   
   
      Applicant: Pfleiderer AG
   
      Defendant: Bundeskartellamt
   
      Re:
   
   Reference for a preliminary ruling — Amtsgericht Bonn — Interpretation of provisions of Community law on cartels, in particular Articles 11 and 12 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (OJ 2003 L 1, p. 1), and the second paragraph of Article 10 EC in conjunction with Article 3(1)(g) EC — Documents and information supplied to the Member States’ competition authorities by applicants for leniency pursuant to a national leniency programme — Possible negative effects of third-party access to such documents on the efficiency and proper functioning of the cooperation between the authorities constituting the European competition network
   
      Operative part of the judgment
   
   The provisions of European Union law on cartels, and in particular Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 101 TFEU and 102 TFEU, must be interpreted as not precluding a person who has been adversely affected by an infringement of European Union competition law and is seeking to obtain damages from being granted access to documents relating to a leniency procedure involving the perpetrator of that infringement. It is, however, for the courts and tribunals of the Member States, on the basis of their national law, to determine the conditions under which such access must be permitted or refused by weighing the interests protected by European Union law.
   
      (1)  OJ C 297, 5.12.2009.