Symrise Refutes EU Antitrust Investigation
- Chaileedo Press
- Jul 7, 2023
- 2 min read
Symrise indicated that the European Commission did not have sufficient evidence to provide reasonable grounds to suspect that the applicant was involved in any violation of competition law and that it constituted a disproportionate interference.
Symrise, a German company that produces flavors and fragrances, has recently contested the early-morning inspection carried out by the European Union's antitrust regulatory body four months ago. The company has requested the second highest court in Europe to nullify the data gathered during the inspection.
“We consider the search to be unlawful under several legal aspects,” Symrise said in a statement on Thursday. “The EU Commission has not sufficiently explained what information it allegedly has that makes it appear possible that Symrise could also be involved in transactions that violate antitrust law. The object and purpose of the search is also not described in sufficient detail. It is merely a reproduction of general statement.”
The company said the Commission searched various documents between June 21 and 23 in the presence of Symrise's attorneys, but they retained only a "small number" of them. All other electronic documents viewed were deleted again in the presence of our attorneys." "We are now convinced that Symrise cannot be the target of an ongoing investigation."
According to a document in the Official Journal of the European Union, Symrise has asked the General Court of Luxembourg, Europe's second highest court, to set aside the European Commission's decision to order the raid.
In that document, Symrise said that "the Commission did not have sufficient indicia providing reasonable grounds for suspecting the applicant’s involvement in any competition law infringement, and constitutes a disproportionate interference with its fundamental rights of inviolability of private premises and privacy as it contains no limitation in time." "More specifically, the wording of the Decision was such that it did not place the applicant in a position to understand the scope of the inspection, and thus exercise its rights of defence."
The world's four largest fragrance suppliers - Symrise, Firmenich, Givaudan and IFF - are all reportedly involved in the antitrust investigation. In March, two companies confirmed that they were under investigation by the European Commission.
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