Memo: Antitrust: Commission welcomes Court of Justice judgement in Methionine cartel case

The European Commission welcomed the judgement by the European Court of Justice (case C-266/06) dismissing the action by the German methionine producer Evonik Degussa GmbH (formerly Degussa AG) against the judgement of the European Court of First Instance of 5 April 2006 (case T-279/02). In this latter judgement, the Court of First Instance had dismissed most of the action brought by Degussa against the Commission's decision of 2 July 2002 setting fines on the company for participating in a price-fixing cartel in the animal feed sector. The Court of First Instance had partly reduced the amount of Degussa's fine. The Court of Justice confirmed the original findings of the Court of First Instance and dismissed the appeal in its entirety. In particular, the Court confirmed the validity of the legal basis on which the Commission inflicts fines in competition matters. It held that this legal basis complies with standards applicable in terms of legal certainty. It underlined that it is not required that the amount of the fine be predictable with absolute certainty.