The EU Court of Justice upholds fines imposed by the Commission on cartel participants in the air freight forwarding sector (Schenker)

In four separate judgments of 1 February 2018, the CJEU upheld fines imposed by the EC on freight forwarders for participating in cartels in the international air freight forwarding services sector. The case is interesting for its consideration of (i) the fact that the EC relied on evidence provided by an immunity applicant that was represented by a lawyer also representing another cartel participant; (ii) the now expired exemption of transport services from the competition rules; and (iii) the sales to be taken into account in determining the fine. This case follows on from the EC’s freight forwarding cartel decision of 28 March 2012, pursuant to which fines totalling EUR 169 million were imposed on 14 freight forwarding companies, including Kuhne Nagel, Panalpina, Schenker Ltd and its