Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Appeals — Pleas in law — Plea directed against a ground of the judgment which was not necessary to support the operative part thereof — Plea ineffectual

2. Competition — Fines — Amount — Determination — Criteria — Gravity and duration of infringements — Consideration of the conditions for the imposition of fines by the Commission — Excluded — ( Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2), second subpara. )

3. Competition — Fines — Amount — Conditions for the imposition of fines by the Commission — Infringement committed intentionally or negligently — Alternative conditions — ( Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2), first subpara. )

Summary

1. In appeal proceedings, a plea in law directed against a ground given in a judgment of the Court of First Instance merely for the sake of completeness must, where the operative part is adequately based on other grounds, be rejected.

2. In determining the gravity of an infringement of the competition rules, the Court of First Instance is not required to verify whether it was committed intentionally or negligently, and still less to draw a distinction between the two cases.

It is apparent from its clear and precise terms that Article 15(2) of Regulation No 17 deals with two distinct matters. First, in the first subparagraph, it lays down the conditions which must be fulfilled to enable the Commission to impose fines, one of which is that the infringement must have been committed intentionally or negligently from the outset (initial conditions). Secondly, in the second subparagraph, it governs determination of the amount of the fine, which depends on the gravity and duration of the infringement, and it does not require (or indeed allow) any reference to the conditions in the first subparagraph. The gravity of infringements must be determined by reference to numerous factors such as, in particular, the particular circumstances of the case and its context; however, no binding or exhaustive list of the criteria which must be applied has been drawn up.

3. The first subparagraph of Article 15(2) of Regulation No 17 draws no distinction based on whether the infringement was committed intentionally or negligently but gives those two conditions for the imposition of a fine as alternatives to each other.