Brussels, 09/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The EU Court of Justice has upheld the €288 million fine imposed by the European Commission in 2010 on Taiwanese company InnoLux for its involvement in a cartel on the LCD panels market (see EUROPE 10273).
In its ruling on Thursday 9 July (case C-231/14P), the Court dismissed the appeal by InnoLux in its entirety. The company had sought a reduction in the fine that the General Court had essentially upheld, though with a slight reduction, in February 2014 (see EUROPE 11028).
The Court confirmed that the Commission, in calculating the size of the fine, was correct to take into account the sale of finished goods incorporating LCD panels up to the value of those panels. InnoLux argued that the sales on the market for finished products did not relate to the cartel organised on the market for LCD panels.
The Court also confirmed that the Commission was entitled to treat differently the sales made by the cartel participants depending on whether or not they form a single undertaking, such as InnoLux, with the companies incorporating the goods concerned into the finished products. Similarly, the Commission was entitled to take into account sales of finished products in the European Economic Area (EEA), in calculating the fine, when those products incorporate LCD panels which were the subject of internal sales outside the EEA. (Jan Kordys)