Brussels, 12/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - In a judgment given on 11 July (cases C-429, 439, 440 and 444/11 P), the Court of Justice of the EU rejected the appeal of the companies Gosselin, Ziegler, Portielje and Team Relocations against the judgments of the General Court in June 2011, upholding the fines imposed by the European Commission on these companies for their participation in a cartel on the international moving and relocating market. In addition, the Court of Justice upheld the fine imposed on Portielje, which was annulled by the General Court (case C-440/111 P).
In its judgments of 2011 (see EUROPE 10399), the General Court upheld the Commission's decision for the most part (see EUROPE 9621), but reduced the fine imposed on Gosselin from €3.28 million to €2.32 million. In addition, it annulled the fine of €270,000 imposed jointly and severally on Gosselin's parent foundation, Stichting Administratiekantoor Portielje, considering that the latter was not a company in the sense of competition law and that it did not influence Gosselin's behaviour.
The Court of Justice of the EU today rejects the appeals of the companies against the judgments of the General Court that concern them. By contrast, the Court of Justice of the EU upholds the Commission's appeal against the General Court's annulment of the fine imposed on Portielje. According to the Court of Justice of the EU, the General Court wrongly judged that Portielje that could only be sanctioned if, taken alone, it could be described as a company in the sense of competition law. In addition, given that Portielje wholly controlled Gosselin the General Court wrongly judged that solely the absence of a formal management decision by Portielje over the period for which it was severally liable for settlement of the fine was enough to reverse the presumption of the effective exercise of a determining influence on Gosselin. (FG/transl.fl)