Judgment_paragraph 62 · SP SpA and Others v Commission of the European Communities (T-27/03, T-46/03, T-58/03, T-79/03, T-80/03, T-97/03, T-98/03)

62The application of Article 65 CS to infringements committed before the expiry of the ECSC Treaty is therefore the logical and coherent consequence of the principles concerning the succession of legal rules within the same legal system. The Commission stresses that it was legally entitled to adopt the contested decision, as it remained, after expiry of the ECSC Treaty, the body competent under the EC Treaty for applying the competition rules. It also states that it limited itself to applying those rules of the ECSC Treaty which have a clear equivalent in the EC Treaty. Furthermore, the Court of Justice itself continued to apply Article 65 CS, after its expiry, to events which occurred during the period when it was still in force (see, for example, Joined Cases C-172/01 P, C-175/01 P, C-176/01 P and C-180/01 P International Power and Others v NALOO [2003] ECR I-11421, paragraph 168, and Case C-179/99 P Eurofer v Commission [2003] ECR I-10725, paragraphs 22 to 26).