The General Court Emphasizes The Obligation Of Cooperation Within A Leniency Programme

In a recent judgment, the General Court stresses the importance to fully cooperate with the Commission when entering in a leniency programme¹ . The leniency applicant is required to collaborate immediately. Its cooperation must be full, absolute and without any reservations.

In the present case, Deltafina, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US Company Universal Corp, had been the first undertaking to reveal to the Commission the existence of the Italian raw tobacco cartel in the context of the 2002 Leniency Notice. Accordingly, at the beginning of the administrative procedure, the Commission had granted the undertaking conditional immunity. However, in its final decision, the Commission did not grant full immunity. It imposed a fine on Deltafina since the undertaking endangered the administrative procedure when disclosing its immunity application to its competitors whereas the Commission had not yet carried out inspections.