370It must first be borne in mind that, as the Commission correctly points out, an undertaking may be held responsible for an overall cartel even though it is shown to have participated directly only in one or some of its constituent elements if it is shown that it knew, or must have known, that the collusion in which it participated, especially by means of regular meetings organised over several years, was part of an overall plan intended to distort competition and that the overall plan included all the constituent elements of the cartel (PVC II, cited in paragraph 61 above, paragraph 773). Similarly, the fact that different undertakings have played different roles in the pursuit of a common objective does not mean that there was no identity of anticompetitive object and, therefore, of infringement, provided that each undertaking has contributed, at its own level, to the pursuit of the common object (see, to that effect, Cement, cited in paragraph 66 above, paragraph 4123).
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