Brussels, 26/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - In its rulings returned on Tuesday 25 October (Cases C-348/08 and T-349/08), the General Court of the EU annulled the joint fine of €9.9 million handed down in June 2008 by the Commission to the Spanish company Aragonesas Industrias y Energia and its parent company at the time, Uralita SA, for their involvement, between 16 December 1996 and 9 February 2000, in an agreement to allocate sales volumes and set prices on the sodium chlorate market. Both companies separately appealed against the decision.
According to the Court, the Commission was only able to prove that Aragonesas had been party to the agreement in the year 1998, on the basis of the company's declarations about its attendance of an unlawful meeting on 28 January 1998 and of the notes of the other participants in the meeting. Other evidence lacked viability and was excessively sparse and fragmented, said the Court, which has now annulled the Commission's decision regarding Aragonesas' participation in the agreement for the periods from 16 December 1996 to 9 February 2000 and regarding the level of the fine jointly imposed on Aragonesas and Uralita.
On the other hand, the Court threw out the arguments submitted by Uralita which, subsequently to the period of the infringement, bought all of the shares of EIA, the sole owner of Aragonesas at the time. It concluded that Uralita had failed to demonstrate that Aragonesas determined its behaviour on the sodium chlorate market independently of EIA. Like the Commission, it therefore took the view that Uralita and EIA could be held responsible for the illegal behaviour of Aragonesas, as Uralita, in its capacity as legal successor to EIA, was responsible for the legal continuity of its rights and obligations. (FG/transl.fl)