Europe’s second top court on Wednesday, July 8, cut Infineon Technologies’ cartel fine by 7% to €76.87 million (US$86.7 million), stating that the German chipmaker had fewer anti-competitive contacts with other cartel members than EU antitrust regulators had claimed.
The European Commission had in 2014 imposed a total fine of €138 million (US$156.3 million) euros on Infineon, Philips and Samsung Electronics for taking part in a cartel between 2003 and 2005. Infineon’s penalty at €82.78 million (US$93.3 million) was the biggest, reported Reuters.
Japanese chipmaker Renesas escaped a fine because it alerted the cartel to the EU competition enforcer.
The Luxembourg-based General Court faulted the Commission over its work. “The Commission took insufficient account of the limited number of the anti-competitive contacts which Infineon had with its competitors and also found that the company had a contact without succeeding in proving its existence,” judges said.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in 2018 told the General Court to review the case again after Infineon appealed the lower tribunal’s 2016 ruling, rejecting its challenge against the EU antitrust fine.
Full Content: Reuters
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