Scania loses appeal against trucks cartel decision

 

Scania loses appeal against trucks cartel decision

The EU General Court has dismissed an appeal by Scania AB, Scania CV AB and Scania Deutschland GmbH (Scania) against the European Commission's 2017 decision finding that Scania had participated in the truck cartel and imposing a fine of EUR880,523,000.

The General Court found that the Commission did not infringe the presumption of innocence through its adoption of a "hybrid" procedure.  The now familiar procedure first involved a settlement decision against the other defendants followed by a mainstream infringement procedure against Scania, the only non-settling defendant.

The General Court rejected Scania’s challenges in relation to the existence of a single and continuous infringement of Article 101 TFEU.  It was irrelevant that certain of Scania’s employees who participated in cartel meetings at a lower level were not aware of meetings held by top management.  The General Court ruled that in order to establish a single and continuous infringement the Commission must show only that the various patterns of conduct are part of an “overall plan designed to achieve a single anti-competitive objective”.  It is not necessary to demonstrate that each such element breaches Article 101 TFEU.

The General Court upheld the Commission’s finding that the information exchanges of concern amounted to infringements which were restrictive by object.  Scania was found to have participated in all elements of the infringement and the Commission was correct to impute liability for the whole infringement to that entity.

It remains to be seen whether Scania will appeal the decision.  If it does, it will face an uphill battle given the General Court’s emphatic rejection of its claims.  The judgment will no doubt fuel the growing number of private antitrust damages claims against the truck manufacturers including in England and Wales.  For now, at least, the General Court’s vindication of the Commission’s decision will make a follow-on claim against Scania so much more straightforward.

 

Case T-799/17, Scania AB and others v European Commission, ECLI:EU:T:2022:48