Judgment_paragraph 39 · Archer Daniels Midland Co. v Commission of the European Communities (T-59/02)

39Second, ADM submits that the application of the Guidelines violates the principle of equal treatment since it differentiates between undertakings which have infringed competition law by reference not to the date of the infringement but to the date on which the Commission's decision was adopted, which was fixed by the Commission in an arbitrary manner. By way of example, the undertakings referred to in Commission Decision 97/624/EC of 14 May 1997 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article [82] of the EC Treaty (IV/34.621, 35.059/F-3 — Irish Sugar plc) (OJ 1997 L 258, p. 1) and in Commission Decision 94/210/EC of 29 March 1994 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Articles [81] and [82] of the EC Treaty (IV/33.941 — HOV-SVZ/MCN) (OJ 1994 L 104, p. 34) were fined on the basis of only 6.8 % and 5 % of their relevant market sales respectively, although the infringements concerned were contemporaneous with the citric acid cartel.