Memo: Antitrust: Commission welcomes Court of First Instance judgment in rubber chemicals cartel case

The European Commission welcomed the judgment by the Court of First Instance (case T-85/06) confirming the Commission's decision against the Spanish companies General Química S.A., Repsol YPF S.A. and Repsol Quimica S.A. of December 2005, including the fines imposed (a total of €75,86 million). In the contested decision the Commission found that the applicant, among other undertakings, had infringed Article 81(1) of the EC Treaty on restrictive business practices by participating, between 1999-2000, in a cartel and concerted practices consisting in price-fixing and the exchange of confidential information in the rubber chemicals sector. In respect of those infringements the Commission imposed a fine of €3.38 million jointly and severally on the applicants. In particular, the Court of First Instance held that Repsol YPF S.A. and Repsol Quimica S.A., although they did not participate themselves in the arrangements in question, are responsible for the conduct of their wholly owned subsidiary General Quimica S.A. The other companies fined did not appeal the Commission decision.

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