The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has reduced a fine levied by the European Commission against Germany’s Degussa from EUR118.1m (US$143.8m) to EUR91.1m regarding an amino acid cartel case.


 


It found that although the Commission correctly viewed the 1986-1999 methionine cartel as “serious”, in evidence “the concrete effects of the infringement only partially were shown”. So, the court cut by EUR5m to EUR30m the basic fine linked to the “gravity of the infringement”.


The court used this amount to compute the final fine – raising it because of the cartel’s long duration and Degussa’s large size and reducing over the company’s cooperation in inquiries.