Judgment_paragraph 79 · Orange v European Commission (T-402/13)

79However, the measures of inquiry adopted by the Commission during the preliminary investigation stage, in particular, the investigation measures and the requests for information, suggest, by their very nature, that an infringement has been committed and may have major repercussions on the situation of the undertakings under suspicion. Consequently, it is necessary to prevent the rights of the defence from being irremediably compromised during that stage of the administrative procedure since the measures of inquiry taken may be decisive in providing evidence of the unlawful nature of conduct engaged in by undertakings for which they may be liable (judgment in AC-Treuhand v Commission, paragraph 77 above, EU:T:2008:256, paragraphs 50 and 51; see also, to that effect, judgments of 21 September 1989 in Hoechst v Commission, 46/87 and 227/88, ECR, EU:C:1989:337, paragraph 15, and in Elf Aquitaine v Commission, paragraph 77 above, EU:C:2011:620, paragraphs 116 and 117 and case-law cited).