CELEX: 62011CJ0181
Language: en
Date: 2012-07-12
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 12 July 2012.#Compañía Española de Tabaco en Rama, SA (Cetarsa) v European Commission.#Appeal — Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Spanish market for the purchase and first processing of raw tobacco — Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC — Price fixing and market sharing — Fines — Equal treatment — Maximum limit of 10% of turnover — Cooperation — Distortion of evidence — Manifest error of assessment — Failure to state reasons.#Case C‑181/11 P.

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 12 July 2012 —Cetarsa v Commission(Case C-181/11 P)
      Appeal — Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Spanish market for the purchase and first processing of raw tobacco — Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC — Price fixing and market sharing — Fines — Equal treatment — Maximum limit of 10% of turnover — Cooperation — Distortion of evidence — Manifest error of assessment — Failure to state reasons
      1.                     Appeals — Grounds — Mistaken assessment of the facts — Inadmissibility — Review by the Court of the assessment of the facts
            and evidence — Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted — Plea alleging distortion of the clear
            sense of the evidence — Necessity of indicating precisely the evidence alleged to have been distorted and showing the errors
            of appraisal which led to that distortion (Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58(1); Rules of Procedure
            of the Court of Justice, Art. 112(1)(1)(c)) (see paras 56, 57, 96, 97)
      2.                     Appeals — Grounds — Distortion of national law relied on as evidence — Admissibility (Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court
            of Justice, Art. 58(1)) (see para. 59)
      3.                     Judicial proceedings — Introduction of new pleas during the proceedings — Conditions — Application to the appeal procedure
            (Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Arts 42(2) and 118) (see paras 60, 61) 
      4.                     Appeals — Grounds — Plea submitted for the first time in the context of the appeal — Inadmissibility (Statute of the Court
            of Justice, Art. 58; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 113(2)) (see para. 62)
      5.                     Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — No brief summary of the pleas in law on
            which the application is based — Inadmissibility (Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Arts 44(1)(c) and 48(2)) (see
            para. 64)
      6.                     Appeals — Grounds — Inadequate statement of reasons — Reliance by the General Court on implied reasoning — Lawfulness — Conditions
            (Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 36 and 53(1)) (see paras 71, 101)
      7.                     Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Maximum amount — Calculation — Distinction between the final amount and the
            intermediate amount of the fine — Consequences (Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23(2)(2)) (see paras 80-85)
      Re: 
      
         Appeal against the judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 3 February 2011 in Case T-33/05 
               Cetarsa
                v 
               Commission
               , by which that Court dismissed an application for annulment of Commission Decision C(2004) 4030 final of 20 October 2004,
                  relating to a proceeding under Article 81(1) [EC] (Case COMP/C.38.238/B.2 — Raw Tobacco — Spain), and a cross-appeal by the
                  Commission seeking to have the amount of the fine imposed on the applicant increased.
               
            Operative part 
      The Court:
      
         
                  1.
               
               
                  
               
               
                  	Dismisses the appeal and the cross-appeal;
               
            
         
                  2.
               
               
                  
               
               
                  	Orders Compañía Española de Tabaco en Rama, SA (Cetarsa) to pay the costs of the appeal;
               
            
         
                  3.
               
               
                  
               
               
                  	Orders the European Commission to pay the costs of the cross-appeal.