European Court Of Justice Dismisses Appeals In Plastic Industrial Bags Cartel Case

On 26 November 2013, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") handed down three judgments dismissing in their entirety appeals brought by Group Gascogne, Gascogne Sack Deutschland and Kendrion against the General Court's ("GC") rulings in the plastic industrial bags cartel case.

In its 2005 decision, the Commission imposed fines totalling over 290 million on sixteen companies for their involvement in a price-fixing and market-market sharing cartel in the market for plastic industrial bags between 1982 and 2002 (see VBB on Competition Law, Volume 2005, No. 12, available at www.vbb.com). The parties were found to have fixed prices in several Member States, such as Belgium, France and Germany, agreed on sales quotas by geographic area, and exchanged commercially sensitive information. On appeal, the GC annulled, in judgments of 16 November 2011, the fine imposed on the cartel participant Stempher on the basis that it could benefit from the five-year limitation period, and reduced the fine imposed on Low & Bonar and its...