Decisions, agreements and concerted practices - Sale of electrotechnical fittings in the Netherlands - National association of wholesalers - Collective exclusive dealing and price-fixing agreements - Fines.

«(Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Sale of electrotechnical fittings in the Netherlands – National association of wholesalers – Collective exclusive- dealing and price-fixing agreements – Fines)» Summary of the Judgment 1.. Competition – Administrative procedure – Statement of objections – Necessary content – Evidence that may be relied on 2.. Competition – Administrative procedure – Observance of the rights of the defence – Adverse evidential document – Meaning 3.. Competition – Administrative proceedings – Investigation of complaints – Commission's obligations – Observance of a reasonable period – Breach – Consequences – Annulment of the decision rejecting a complaint – Excluded (Council Regulation No 17) 4.. Competition – Administrative procedure – Investigation of complaints – Commission's obligations – Observance of a reasonable period – Need to distinguish between the investigation phase prior to the statement of objections and the remainder of the administrative procedure (Council Regulation No 17, Art. 3) 5.. Competition – Fines – Limitation period laid down by Regulation No 2988/74 – No infringement of the rights of the defence before the expiry of the limitation period (Council Regulations Nos 17 and 2988/74) 6.. Procedure – Application initiating proceedings – Formal requirements – Summary statement of pleas – Pleas in law not set out in the application – Reference to the annexes in general – Inadmissible (Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 44(1)(c)) 7.. Competition – Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Concerted practice – Meaning – Criteria of coordination and cooperation – Interpretation (Art. 81(1) EC) 8.. Competition – Community rules – Substantive scope – Price-fixing decision of an association of undertakings – Excluded by reason of the existence of national rules which inspired it – Condition – Binding nature of the rules (Art. 81(1) EC) 9.. Competition – Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Participation in meetings held by undertakings for an anti-competitive purpose – Sufficient basis for concluding that, if an undertaking has not distanced itself from the decisions taken, it participated in the subsequent arrangements (Art. 81(1) EC) 10.. Competition – Community rules – Infringements – Committed intentionally – Meaning (Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15) 11.. Competition – Fines – Decision imposing fines – Obligation to state reasons – Scope – Statement of the factors by which the Commission assessed the gravity and duration of the infringement – Sufficient statement (Art. 253 EC; Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15(2), subpara. 2) 12.. Competition – Fines – Determined on the basis of an undertaking's own conduct – Effect of the fact that another trader has not been penalised – None (Council Regulation No 17, Art. 15) JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (First Chamber)16 December 2003 (1) ((Decisions, agreements and concerted practices – Sale of electrotechnical fittings in the Netherlands – National association of wholesalers – Collective exclusive dealing and price-fixing agreements – Fines)) applicant in Case T-6/00, v defendant, interveners in Cases T-5/00 and T-6/00, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (First Chamber), having regard to the written procedure and following the hearing on 14 May 2002, gives the following On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (First Chamber), Vesterdorf Forwood Legal H. Jung B. Vesterdorf Registrar President 1 – Language of the case: Dutch.