Memo: Competition: Commission welcomes Court of First Instance judgments in Citric Acid cartel case

The European Commission welcomes the 27 September 2006 judgments by the European Court of First Instance regarding the actions by Jungbunzlauer (JBL) and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) against the Commission’s December 2001 decision fining a worldwide Citric Acid cartel (Cases T-43/02 and T-59/02). The CFI confirmed that the parties had engaged in an illegal price fixing cartel and upheld the fines imposed on the applicants in their entirety. It also found that the Commission correctly determined the amount of the fines for the applicants in accordance with the Guidelines on fines and rejected the argument that the fines imposed on the applicants were discriminatory and disproportionate.