Quanta Storage, Inc. v European Commission (C-699/19 P)
law://eu/cjeu/2019/c-699-19/para_62@2026-11-12
62In that regard, as the General Court correctly recalled in paragraph 60 of the judgment under appeal, Regulation No 1/2003 provides that the parties are to receive a statement of objections which must set out clearly all the essential facts upon which the Commission is relying at that stage of the procedure. That statement of objections constitutes the procedural safeguard applying the fundamental principle of EU law, which requires observance of the rights of the defence in all proceedings capable of leading to the imposition of a penalty. That principle requires, in particular, that the statement of objections which the Commission sends to an undertaking on which it envisages imposing a penalty for an infringement of the competition rules contain the essential elements used against it, such as the facts, the characterisation of those facts and the evidence on which the Commission relies, so that the undertaking may submit its arguments effectively in the administrative procedure brought against it (see, to that effect, judgment of 3 September 2009, Papierfabrik August Koehler and Others v Commission, C‑322/07 P, C‑327/07 P and C‑338/07 P, EU:C:2009:500, paragraphs 35 and 36 and the case-law cited).