Memo: Antitrust: Commission welcomes European Court of Justice judgements in copper tubes cartels

The European Commission welcomes the judgements by the European Court of Justice dismissing the appeals brought by KME and Chalkor against the General Court's judgments in the copper plumbing tubes and industrial copper tubes cartels cases (T-127/04, T-25/05 and T-21/05). The ECJ confirms in full the General Court's judgements of 2009 which, themselves, had confirmed by large the Commission's decisions. Importantly, the ECJ also holds that the judicial review carried out by the European Union courts when ruling on appeals of Commission competition decisions is in line with the principle of an effective judicial protection set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.