Final Report of the Hearing Officer (1)

COMP/39.611 — Water management products

2012/C 335/03

On 27 January 2011, the European Commission initiated proceedings pursuant to Article 11(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (2) against Flamco Wemefa GmbH, Flamco Holding B.V., voestalpine Polynorm B.V. and voestalpine AG (‘Flamco’), Reflex Winkelman GmbH & Co. and Winkelman Group GmbH & Co. KG (‘Reflex’) and TA Hydronics Switzerland AG (formerly ‘Pneumatex AG’ and hereafter referred to as ‘Pneumatex’) (together ‘the parties’).

Following settlement discussions and settlement submissions in accordance with Article 10a(2) of Regulation (EC) No 773/2004 (3), the European Commission adopted a statement of objections (the ‘SO’) addressed to Flamco, Reflex and Pneumatex stating that the parties had participated in a single and continuous infringement of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The infringement was described as price coordination for water management products, comprising pressurisation systems and products for quality assurance. 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 the Terms of Reference, 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 (4), I consider that the effective exercise of the procedural rights of all participants to the proceedings in this case has been respected.

(1)  Pursuant to Articles 16 and 17 of Decision of the President of the European Commission 2011/695/EU 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 (the ‘Terms of Reference’).

(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)  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.

(4)  Under Article 15(2) of the Terms of Reference, 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 of the procedure in order to ensure the effective exercise of their procedural rights. See also paragraph 18 of Commission Notice 2008/C 167/01.