EU Court maintains fine on Shell at EUR160.88 Million

July 13, 2011 | Legal, North Sea & Western Europe

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A European Court Wednesday confirmed a EUR160.88 million fine imposed by the European Commission on Royal Dutch Shell Plc for having participated in a cartel in the synthetic rubber market, and reduced a fine imposed on Eni SpA.

The General Court, the European Union’s second highest court, also annulled a fine that the commission, which has antitrust powers in the EU, had imposed on Czech Republic-based Unipetrol and Polish-based Trade-Stomil because it found that there wasn’t enough evidence to show that the companies were involved in the cartel, it said in a statement.

Eni’s fine was reduced to EUR181.50 million from EUR272.25 million.

When asked whether Shell would pay the fine or consider further legal action, the Anglo-Dutch major said it was still examining the ruling.

“Shell is carefully studying today’s judgment. We are committed to ensuring that staff understand fully the need to comply with competition law regulations and we have an extensive compliance program in place,” said a Shell spokesman.