EU General Court Repeals European Commission's Decision To Fine Intel $1.2Bln

EU General Court Repeals European Commission's Decision to Fine Intel $1.2Bln

The General Court of the European Union announced on Wednesday the annulment of the European Commission's ruling to fine the microprocessor manufacturer Intel 1.06 billion euros ($1.2 billion) for breaching competition rules on the microprocessor market

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2022) The General Court of the European Union announced on Wednesday the annulment of the European Commission's ruling to fine the microprocessor manufacturer Intel 1.06 billion Euros ($1.2 billion) for breaching competition rules on the microprocessor market.

The commission decided to penalize Intel in 2009, accusing the company of abusing its dominant position on the global market by obstructing fair competition.

"(The court) annuls in its entirety the article of the contested decision which imposes on Intel a fine of ��1.06 billion in respect of the infringement found," the court's statement said.

Intel was indicted for abusing two types of commercial practices toward trading partners, including conditional rebates. Notably, Intel granted four computer hardware manufacturers, Dell, lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and NEC, reductions on the condition of purchasing processors from Intel. These rebates ensured partners' loyalty, which allegedly impaired other producers' ability to compete, and decreased consumer choice and innovation incentives.

"The analysis carried out by the Commission is incomplete and, in any event, does not make it possible to establish to the requisite legal standard that the rebates at issue were capable of having, or were likely to have, anti-competitive effects, which is why the General Court annuls the decision," the statement added.

The court claimed that it carefully reviewed the decision of the commission as well as the appeal filed by Intel, in which the company pointed out that the first instance court failed to sufficiently scrutinize case materials about the actual effects of Intel's commercial behavior on fair market competition.