BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s second-top court on Wednesday rejected a 1.06 billion euros ($1.2 billion) EU antitrust fine handed down to U.S. chipmaker Intel twelve years ago for trying to squeeze out a rival.
” The (European) Commission’s analysis is incomplete and does not make it possible to establish to the requisite legal standard that the rebates at issue were capable of having, or likely to have, anticompetitive effects,” the General Court said.
Judges annulled in its entirety the article of the contested decision which imposes on Intel a fine of 1.06 billion euros in respect of the infringement found.
The same court had in 2014 upheld the Commission’s 2009 decision but was subsequently told by the EU Court of Justice, Europe’s highest, in 2017 to re-examine Intel’s appeal.
The case is T-286/09 P Intel Corporation v Commission.
($1 = 0.8861 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee)
