Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 29 July 2019.
Tibor-Trans Fuvarozó és Kereskedelmi Kft. v DAF TRUCKS N.V.
Request for a preliminary ruling from the Győri Ítélőtábla.
Reference for a preliminary ruling — Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 — Special jurisdiction — Article 7(2) — Tort, delict or quasi-delict — Place where the harmful event occurred — Claim for compensation for damage caused by a cartel found to be contrary to Article 101 TFEU and Article 53 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
Case C-451/18. (2019)
Language: English

On 19 July 2016, the European Commission adopted Decision C(2016) 4673 final relating to a proceeding under Article 101 [TFEU] and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case AT.39824 — Trucks), a summary of which was published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 6 April 2017 (OJ 2017 C 108, p. 6, ‘the decision at issue’).
By the decision at issue, the Commission found there to be a cartel among fifteen international truck manufacturers, including DAF Trucks, in respect of two product categories, that is to say, trucks weighing between 6 and 16 tonnes or weighing more than 16 tonnes, whether rigid trucks or tractor trucks.
According to that decision, the cartel took the form of a single and continuous infringement of Article 101 TFEU and of Article 53 of the EEA Agreement, which occurred, as far as three of the participating companies were concerned, between 17 January 1997 and 20 September 2010 and, as far as the 12 other participating companies, including DAF Trucks, were concerned, between 17 January 1997 and 18 January 2011. The infringement consisted of collusive arrangements on pricing and gross price increases in the European Economic Area (EEA) for trucks and to the timing and the passing on of costs for the introduction of emission technologies for those trucks required by EURO 3 to 6 standards.
It follows from the decision at issue that, until 2004, the discussions relating to prices, price increases and the introduction of new emission standards took place at the registered offices of the addressees of that decision and that from at least August 2002 onwards, discussions took place via German subsidiaries which, to varying degrees, reported to their head offices.
The Commission held that the infringement of Article 101 TFEU extended to the whole of the EEA and lasted from 17 January 1997 until 18 January 2011. Consequently, it imposed fines on all participating entities, including DAF Trucks, with the exception of one entity which was granted immunity.

Legal relationship diagram (Graphviz):
digraph {
    rankdir=LR;
    node [shape=box];
    
   "The European Commission"[shape=doubleoctagon];
   "Decision C(2016) 4673"[shape=trapezium];
   "Article 101 [TFEU], Article 53 of the EEA Agreement"[shape=trapezium];
   "All participating entities"[shape=doubleoctagon];
    
   "The European Commission"->"Decision C(2016) 4673"[label="Adopt 19/07/2016"];
   "Decision C(2016) 4673"->"3 companies between 17/01/1997-20/09/2010, 12 companies between 17/01/1997-18/01/2011"[dir=none];
   "Decision C(2016) 4673"->"Article 101 [TFEU], Article 53 of the EEA Agreement"[dir=none];
   "Decision C(2016) 4673"->"All participating entities"[label="Impose fines"];

}