Shell Petroleum NV and Others v European Commission (T-343/06)
law://eu/cjeu/2006/t-343-06/para_161@2026-11-15
Key facts
Court
General Court · Sixth Chamber
Case
T-343/06 · ECLI:EU:T:2012:478
Decided
27 Sept 2012
Procedure
Action for annulment
Applicants
Shell Petroleum NV; The Shell Transport and Trading Company Ltd; Shell Nederland Verkoopmaatschappij BV; represented initially by O. Brouwer, W. Knibbeler and S. Verschuur, and subsequently by O. Brouwer, W. Knibbeler and P. van den Berg, lawyers
161As regards the probative value of that witness statement submitted by the applicants, it should be borne in mind that the activity of the Court of Justice and of the General Court is governed by the principle of the unfettered evaluation of evidence, apart from the exceptions laid down in the Rules of Procedure which are mentioned above, and that it is only the reliability of the evidence before the Court which is decisive when it comes to the assessment of its value (Opinion of Judge Vesterdorf acting as Advocate General in Case T-1/89Rhône-Poulenc v Commission [1991] ECR II-867, at II-869). In that regard, in order to assess the probative value of a document, regard should be had first and foremost to the credibility of the account it contains. Regard should also be had in particular to the person from whom the document originates, the circumstances in which it came into being, the person to whom it was addressed and whether, on its face, the document appears to be sound and reliable (Cement, paragraph 77 above, paragraph 1838). It should also be borne in mind that, although, in the administrative procedure, the Commission does not have the power to compel persons to give evidence under oath, Article 19(1) of Regulation No 1/2003 enables it to take statements from any person who consents to be interviewed.