153With respect, in the second place, to the argument that the Commission failed to have regard in this case to its decision-making practice, in breach of the principle of equal treatment, it should be pointed out, first, that the Commission's practice in previous decisions does not itself serve as a legal framework for the fines imposed in competition matters, (LR AF 1998 v Commission, paragraph 57 above, paragraph 234) and, secondly, that it is settled case-law (see paragraph 134 above) that the Commission possesses a wide margin of discretion under Regulation No 17 when setting fines, in order that it may direct the conduct of undertakings towards compliance with the competition rules. It is accordingly for the Commission, in the exercise of its discretion and in the light of the matters referred to in the third indent of the second paragraph of Section 1.A of the Guidelines, to determine whether the individual circumstances of the case under consideration call for the infringement to be classified as very serious. It is clear from paragraphs 146 to 152 above that that was the case.
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