EU: Top court deals blow to antitrust regulator

The European Union’s top court on Thursday annulled a request for information the European Commission had made to several cement makers in a cartel probe, a judgment that could curtail the competition watchdog’s investigative powers.

The commission in 2010 opened an investigation into several cement makers—including Heidelberg Cement, Holcim and Lafarge—saying it suspected the companies of possibly restricting imports into the EU, divvying up markets and coordinating prices.

A year later, the commission sent lengthy questionnaires to the companies, requesting information on their business practices. The probe into the cement makers was closed last year, but the companies have been challenging the commission’s rights to demand such vast amounts of information.

On Thursday, the European Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court, sided with the companies, saying the commission’s requests went beyond its rights under EU law.

“The questions sent by the commission to the companies are extremely numerous and cover very different types of information,” the court said. “However, the commission’s decisions don’t disclose, clearly and unequivocally, the suspicions of infringement which justify their adoption and don’t make it possible to determine whether the requested information is necessary for the purposes of the investigation.”

The ruling overturns a 2014 decision by the EU’s General Court, which said that the commission questionnaires were justified.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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