67As regards the objection that a time-limit must be placed on the possibility to take any repeated infringement into account, the Court finds that the fact that Regulation No 17, Regulation No 1/2003 and the Guidelines lay down no maximum period for making a finding of repeated infringement does not breach the principle of legal certainty. The finding and the appraisal of the specific features of a repeated infringement come within the Commissions discretion in relation to the choice of factors to be taken into consideration for the purpose of determining the amount of fines. In that connection, the Commission cannot be bound by any limitation period for such a finding. In that regard, it must be borne in mind that repeated infringement is an important factor which the Commission is required to appraise, since taking repeated infringement into account is intended to provide undertakings which have shown a propensity to breach the competition rules with an incentive to change their conduct. The Commission may therefore, in each case, take into consideration the indicia which tend to confirm such a propensity, including, for example, the time which has elapsed between the infringements at issue (Groupe Danone v Commission, cited in paragraph 65 above, paragraphs 37 to 39).
Source: EUR-Lex, © European Union, 1998-2026. Reuse authorised under Decision 2011/833/EU.