In a judgment handed down on Wednesday 10 December (Case T-1129/23), the General Court of the European Union reduced the fine imposed on microprocessor manufacturer Intel by the European Commission in September 2023 (see EUROPE 13256/13) as part of a dispute that began in 2009, from €376.4 million to €237.1 million.
This fine relates to anti-competitive practices confirmed by the Court of Justice of the EU in October 2024 (see EUROPE 13511/27), namely the payment of computer manufacturers HP, Acer and Lenovo for stopping or delaying the launch of products containing x86 processors distributed by AMD (‘naked restrictions').
In its judgment, the General Court essentially confirms the Commission’s decision. In its view, since the anti-competitive practices had been confirmed by the Court, the Commission could implement the earlier judgments by simply recalculating the amount of the fine imposed on the basis of the conduct still at issue.
The Court also rejected Intel’s arguments that the statement of reasons for the 2023 decision was insufficient, that a new statement of objections should have been sent to Intel and that Intel’s rights of defence had been infringed.
As regards the amount of the fine, the Court considers that the Commission correctly applied the criteria of gravity and duration of the infringement. However, it considers it necessary to refine the calculation of the fine by taking greater account of the relatively limited number of computers affected by the ‘naked restrictions’ and the one-year interval between certain anti-competitive practices.
As a result, the initial fine has been reduced by around €140 million.
To see the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/jx7 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)