CJEU dismisses Orlen’s appeal in Gazprom case

The CJEU on Thursday dismissed the appeal brought by Orlen in the Gazprom case. According to the CJEU, the European Commission acted correctly in accepting the Russian company’s commitment in 2015 to withdraw its unfair pricing policy towards EU countries.

Between 2011 and 2015, the EC took action regarding natural gas markets in Central and Eastern Europe, including launching an investigation against Gazprom. It concerned gas supplies to eight Member States – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia.

22 April 2015. The EC sent Gazprom a letter accusing it of abusing its dominant position in the market for wholesale gas supplies in these countries.

According to the Commission, the corporation imposed territorial restrictions in its gas supply contracts with wholesalers and certain industrial customers. These restrictions enabled the Russian company to pursue an unfair pricing policy in five Member States (Bulgaria, Estonia, Poland and Latvia and Lithuania) by imposing excessive prices.

According to the EC, Gazprom also made gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland conditional on obtaining certain assurances from wholesalers regarding gas transmission infrastructure. These included PGNiG’s acceptance of Gazprom’s increased control over the management of investments in the Polish section of the Yamal pipeline, one of Poland’s main transit pipelines.

In response to the EC’s allegations, Gazprom submitted a formal draft of commitments to change these practices, which the Commission accepted. This brought the proceedings against the Russian company to an end.

PGNiG, dissatisfied with the EC’s decision, filed a complaint with the EU General Court against the EU institution’s decision.

2 February 2022. The EU General Court dismissed the complaint, finding that the EC’s decision was not vitiated by the alleged procedural or substantive errors. PGNiG appealed the decision of the EU General Court to a higher instance of the CJEU.

In a judgment issued on Thursday, the CJEU dismissed the appeal brought by Orlen – which acquired PGNiG in 2022 – as unfounded. It said, among other things, that Orlen had failed to show that the Commission had erred in its decision on Gazprom.

‘Orlen S.A.’s presentation of abstract reasoning based on an accumulation of alleged Commission errors, without showing their concrete relevance to the case, does not meet this premise. In particular, the fact that the remedies approved by the Commission, aimed at restoring fully competitive conditions, did not have an immediate effect or did not correspond to the subjective expectations of (the company) Orlen, does not allow the conclusion to be drawn that the Commission’s decision was vitiated by errors which were not perceived by the Court,’ the judgment reads.

The Court also found that – contrary to Orlen’s claims – in issuing the disputed decision, the EC had duly taken into account and respected the principle of energy solidarity, aiming to realise, among other things, that the free cross-border flow of gas is ensured and that the prices of this commodity in Central and Eastern European countries do not deviate from Western European competition indicators.

Source: PortalMorski.pl