Competition - Cartel - Lysine - Guidelines on the method of setting fines - Turnover - Mitigating circumstances - Cooperation during the administrative procedure.

«(Competition – Cartel – Lysine – Guidelines for calculating the amount of fines – Turnover – Mitigating circumstances – Cooperation during the administrative procedure)» Summary of the Judgment 1.. Competition – Fines – Amount – Determination thereof – Guidelines adopted by the Commission – Obligation on the Commission to comply with them (Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2)) 2.. Competition – Fines – Amount – Determination thereof – Criteria – Seriousness of the infringements – Taking into account of the total turnover of the undertaking concerned and the turnover achieved by sales of goods which were the subject-matter of the infringement – Limits (Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2)) 3.. Competition – Fines – Amount – Determination thereof – Criteria – Seriousness of the infringements – Measure of the effective capacity to cause damage on the relevant market – Relevance of the market share held by the undertaking concerned (Art. 81(1) EC; Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2)) 4.. Competition – Fines – Amount – Determination thereof – Criteria – Seriousness of the infringements – Measure of the actual impact on competition of the infringing conduct of each undertaking – Relevance of the turnover achieved with the products forming the subject-matter of a restrictive practice (Art. 81(1) EC; Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2)) 5.. Competition – Fines – Amount – Determination thereof – Criteria – Cooperation of the undertaking during the administrative procedure – Reduction of the fine – Request for information – Investigation – Relevance (Council Regulation No 17, Arts 11 and 15) 6.. Competition – Fines – Amount – Determination thereof – Method of calculation defined by guidelines laid down by the Commission – Application of percentages to the basic amount of the fine (Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2)) JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fourth Chamber)9 July 2003 (1) ((Competition – Cartel – Lysine – Guidelines on the method of setting fines – Turnover – Mitigating circumstances – Cooperation during the administrative procedure)) applicants, v defendant, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (Fourth Chamber), having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 25 April 2002, gives the following On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fourth Chamber) Vilaras Tiili Mengozzi H. Jung M. Vilaras Registrar President 1 – Language of the case: English.