Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 7 June 2011 - Total
   and Elf Aquitaine v Commission

   (Case T-206/06)

   Competition - Agreements, decisions and concerted practices - Market
   for methacrylates - Decision finding an infringement of Article 81 EC
   and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement - Imputability of the unlawful
   conduct - Rights of the defence - Presumption of innocence - Duty to
   state reasons - Principle of equal treatment - Principle that penalties
   must fit the offence - Principle of nullum crimen, nulla poena sine
   lege - Principle of sound administration - Principle of legal certainty
   - Misuse of powers - Fines - Attribution of liability for payment
   within a group of companies

   1.                     Competition - Community rules - Infringements -
   Attribution - Parent company and subsidiaries - Economic unit -
   Criteria for assessment - Presumption of decisive influence exercised
   by the parent company over its wholly-owned subsidiaries (Arts 81 EC
   and 82 EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23(2)) (see paras 45-48,
   115-116, 205)

   2.                     Competition - Community rules - Infringements -
   Attribution - Parent company and subsidiaries - Economic unit -
   Criteria for assessment - Presumption of decisive influence exercised
   by the parent company over its wholly-owned subsidiaries - Subsidiary
   held by a holding company - Fact not sufficient to reverse the
   presumption (Arts 81 EC and 82 EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art.
   23(2)) (see paras 78-79, 85)

   3.                     Competition - Administrative procedure -
   Statement of objections - Necessary content - Observance of the rights
   of the defence - Undertakings afforded the opportunity to state their
   views on the facts, objections and circumstances alleged by the
   Commission (Arts 81 EC and 82 EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art.
   23(2)) (see paras 130-133)

   4.                     Acts of the institutions - Statement of reasons
   - Obligation - Scope - Decision to apply competition rules - Decision
   relating to several addressees - Need for sufficient reasoning,
   particularly with regard to the entity having to bear the burden of an
   infringement (Arts 81 EC and 253 EC) (see paras 177-178)

   5.                     Competition - Community rules - Infringements -
   Attribution - Parent company and subsidiaries - Economic unit -
   Criteria for assessment - Presumption of decisive influence exercised
   by the parent company over its wholly-owned subsidiaries - Allocation
   of payment of the fine between the various legal entities comprising
   the economic unit - No infringement of the unitary character of the
   concept of an undertaking (Arts 81 EC and 82 EC; Council Regulation No
   1/2003, Art. 23(2)) (see paras 205-209)

   6.                     Competition - Fines - Amount - Determination -
   Deterrent effect - No obligation to take account of fines already
   imposed for other anti-competitive activities (Art. 81 EC; Council
   Regulation No 1/2003, Art. 23) (see paras 297-298)

   7.                     Competition - Fines - Amount - Determination -
   Deterrent effect - Account taken of the size and global resources of
   the fined undertaking (Art. 81 EC; Council Regulation No 1/2003, Art.
   23) (see para. 303)

   8.                     Procedure - Request that the oral procedure be
   reopened - Conditions for admissibility - New evidence capable of
   having a decisive impact on the decision (Rules of Procedure of the
   General Court, Art. 62) (see para. 306)

   Re:

   APPLICATION for annulment of Articles 1(c) and (d), 2(b), 3 and 4 of
   Commission Decision C(2006) 2098 final of 31 May 2006 relating to a
   proceeding pursuant to Article 81 EC and Article 53 of the EEA
   Agreement (Case COMP/F/38.645 - Methacrylates) and, in the alternative,
   amendment of Article 2(b) of that decision.

   Operative part

   The Court:

   1.

   Dismisses the action;

   2.

   Orders Total SA and Elf Aquitaine SA to pay the costs.