Brussels, 17/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - With its ruling of Wednesday 16 November, the General Court of the European Union annulled the fine of €2.37 million imposed on 30 November 2005 by the European Commission on Stempher NV and its limited partnership Koninklijke Verpakkingsindustrie Stempher CV (together, Stempher) for their participation in anti-competitive conduct on the plastic industrial bags market in Germany, Spain, France and in the Benelux (EUROPE 9079). The Court also reduced from €12.24 million to €9.18 million the fine imposed jointly and severally on Low & Bonar and Bonar Technical Fabrics for having taken part in the same cartel. Appeals brought by other participants were rejected.
As regards Stempher, the Court ruled that the Commission had not produced sufficiently precise and consistent evidence to establish that the company continued to participate in the cartel after 20 June 1997. Infringement committed before that date came within the five-year limitation period thus precluding the Commission from fining Stempher. As the Commission failed to show, either in its 2005 decision or in the course of proceedings before the Court, a legitimate interest in a finding being made that Stempher committed an infringement before June 1997, the Court decided to annual the fine imposed on Stempher.
As regards Low & Bonar plc and its subsidiary Bonar Technical Fabrics NV (former subsidiary of BPP-Bonar Phormium Packaging), the Commission had found the period of infringement to be the period between 13 September 1991 and 28 November 1997. However, the Court considers that the Commission had not established that BPP participated in a single and continuous infringement before 21 November 1997 since it was not proved that BPP knew or should have known that, by participating in certain earlier meetings, it was joining in a wider cartel extending over a number of European countries. Consequently, the Court decided to grant a reduction of 25% of the starting amount of the fine, reducing the fine to €9.18 million.
The Commission's decision had concerned some 16 companies and subsidiaries and had given rise to an overall fine of €290 million for the cartel. The infringement identified by the Commission mainly concerned the fixing of prices and the establishment of common price calculation models, the sharing of markets, the allocation of sales quotas, the assignment of customers, deals and orders and lastly the exchange of individualised information, according to geographical area. The Court had already reduced the fine on Trioplast Industrier (Sweden) and is currently examining appeals by UPM-Kymmene Oyj (Finland), FLS Plast (Denmark) and FLSmidth (Denmark) in the context of the same cartel. (FG/transl.jl)