Memo: Competition: Commission welcomes Court of First Instance judgment in Hoek Loos case (Dutch industrial gases cartel)

The European Commission welcomes the judgment by the European Court of First Instance, 4 July 2006 dismissing the action by NV Hoek Loos against the Commission’s July 2002 decision against a Dutch industrial gases cartel (case T-304/02). In particular, the CFI found that the applicant had been able to ascertain the reasons which led the Commission to consider it to be responsible for the alleged infringement and to impose a fine on it. It also found that the Commission determined the amount of the fine for the applicant in accordance with the guidelines on fines and that the 10% of worldwide turnover threshold was applied correctly and rejected the argument that the fine imposed on the applicant was disproportionate. The Court also confirmed that the Commission may apply the 10% upper limit on the worldwide turnover of the addressee before the application of the Leniency Notice. The Commission’s adopted new guidelines on fines on 28th June 2006 (see IP/06/698 and MEMO/06/224).