Antitrust: Commission welcomes Court of First Instance judgment in organic peroxide cartel case

The European Commission welcomed the judgment by the Court of First Instance (case T-99/04) confirming the Commission's decision against AC Treuhand AG (AC Treuhand) of December 2003. AC Treuhand, a Swiss consultancy firm, appealed against the Commission’s decision that established Treuhand's involvement in a cartel in organic peroxide where main producers in Europe conspired to fix and raise prices and allocate customers of organic peroxide products for the production of plastic and rubber. In particular, the CFI confirmed that AC Treuhand – not itself a producer but offering secretariat functions to the cartel - had taken part and contributed actively and intentionally to an illegal cartel. It thereby upheld the symbolic fine imposed on AC Treuhand. This judgment confirmed the validity of Commission enforcement of anti-cartel provisions also against companies that facilitate and contribute to the functioning of a cartel, even where they are not direct producers or distributors of the cartelised product or service.