• Home
  • eAlerts
  • CFI upholds decision against Irish Sugar, but reduces fine slightly

CFI upholds decision against Irish Sugar, but reduces fine slightly

United Kingdom
31/10/1999
Download PDF

In 1997, Irish Sugar brought an action in the European Court of First Instance (CFI) challenging a Commission decision fining the company for infringing EC competition rules, namely Article 82 EC, between 1985 and 1990, in the market in granulated sugar intended for retail and for industry in Ireland. The decision imposed a fine of Euro 8.8 million. According to the Commission, Irish Sugar had sought to restrict competition from imports of sugar from other Member States and from smaller sugar suppliers in Ireland. The infringements allowed Irish Sugar to maintain a significantly higher price level for packaged retail sugar in Ireland compared with other Member States and to keep its ex-factory prices amongst the highest in the EC. The CFI upheld most of the Commission’s assessment, but it annulled a part of the Commission’s decision which found that Irish Sugar had infringed Article 82 EC by granting selectively low prices to customers of the French importers concerned between 1986 and 1988. It found that the Commission had not adduced enough evidence to prove the reality of that particular infringement. Moreover, neither the Statement of Objections issued by the Commission, nor the statement of reasons in the contested decision mentioned this particular abuse. Accordingly, the CFI reduced the fine imposed on the company to Euro 7,883,326. (Irish Sugar plc v. Commission, Case No. T-228/97, judgment of 7.10.99; European Report No. 2441, 9.10.99; the Commission’s decision was summarised in EU Law Briefing Notes June 1997)

Search Filters

Advanced Search

Related content