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PVC Cartel- Effects of a Judgment Annulling a Measure

United Kingdom
05/08/1999
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In 1988, the Commission imposed fines on fourteen PVC producers for infringement of the EC rules on cartels. The Court of First Instance, in 1992, and the European Court of Justice in 1994, found serious procedural errors in the adoption of the 1988 decision, which was therefore annulled. Following this annulment the Commission adopted a new decision in July 1994 against twelve of the producers affected by the initial decision, correcting the procedural defects found by the ECJ. The Commission found that those companies had infringed the EC provision on cartels. The twelve undertakings brought a new action before the Court of First Instance for annulment of the 1994 decision.

The undertakings raised a large number of procedural issues, especially as to whether the Commission was entitled to adopt a new decision in 1994 when the initial decision of 1988 had been annulled for formal defects. The Court rejected all these procedural claims. The Court of First Instance confirmed that the companies had infringed the cartel provisions. The Court of First Instance accepted the arguments of three companies (Elf Atochem, ICI and SAV) that their fines had been mis-calculated and the fines were reduced accordingly.

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