Final Report of the Hearing Officer (1)

AT.39922 — Bearings

2014/C 238/08

On 22 January 2013, the European Commission (‘Commission’) initiated proceedings pursuant to Article 11(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (2) against JTEKT Corporation, JTEKT Europe Bearings B.V., Koyo France SA and Koyo Deutschland GmbH (‘JTEKT’); NSK Ltd, NSK Europe Ltd and NSK Deutschland GmbH (‘NSK’); Nachi-Fujikoshi Corporation and Nachi Europe GmbH (‘NFC’); AB SKF and SKF GmbH (‘SKF’); INA-Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG, Schaeffler Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Schaeffler AG, Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG (3) and FAG Kugelfischer GmbH (‘Schaeffler’); NTN Corporation, NTN Wälzlager (Europa) GmbH and NTN-SNR Roulements SA (‘NTN’) (together ‘the parties’).

Following settlement discussions and settlement submissions in accordance with Article 10a(2) of Regulation (EC) No 773/2004 (4), on 21 January 2014 the European Commission adopted a Statement of Objections (‘SO’) addressed to the parties (5), stating that they had participated in a single and continuous infringement of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and of Article 53 of the EEA Agreement. The SO alleged that the infringement consisted of price coordination between bearings manufacturers vis-à-vis automotive customers, and covered the entire European Economic Area (EEA).

The parties' respective replies to the SO confirmed that the SO addressed to them reflected the contents of their settlement submissions.

Pursuant to Article 16 of Decision 2011/695/EU, I have examined whether the draft decision deals only with objections in respect of which the parties have been afforded the opportunity of making known their views, and I have come to a positive conclusion.

In view of the above, and taking into account that the parties have not addressed any requests or complaints to me (6), I consider that the effective exercise of the procedural rights of all the parties in this case has been respected.

(1)  Pursuant to Articles 16 and 17 of Decision 2011/695/EU of the President of the European Commission of 13 October 2011 on the function and terms of reference of the hearing officer in certain competition proceedings (OJ L 275, 20.10.2011, p. 29) (‘Decision 2011/695/EU’).

(2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1).

(3)  Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG ceased to exist as of 1 January 2014. Its legal successor is Schaeffler Technologies GmbH & Co. KG.

(4)  Commission Regulation (EC) No 773/2004 of 7 April 2004 relating to the conduct of proceedings by the Commission pursuant to Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty (OJ L 123, 27.4.2004, p. 18).

(5)  The Commission adopted an SO addressed to Schaeffler Technologies GmbH & Co. KG on 20 February 2014.

(6)  Under Article 15(2) of Decision 2011/695/EU, parties to the proceedings in cartel cases which engage in settlement discussions pursuant to Article 10a of Regulation (EC) No 773/2004, may call upon the hearing officer at any stage during the settlement procedure in order to ensure the effective exercise of their procedural rights. See also paragraph 18 of Commission Notice 2008/C 167/01 on the conduct of settlement procedures in view of the adoption of Decisions pursuant to Article 7 and Article 23 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 in cartel cases (OJ C 167, 2.7.2008, p. 1).