European Commission Appealing Alrosa/De Beers Overturn

The European Competition Commission has confirmed to IDEX Online that it has decided to file an appeal in the Alrosa/De Beers case. In July, the European Court of First Instance ruled that the Commission did not prove that the two firms formed a “dominant position” in the European market, and annulled its ruling.

The Commission investigated a five-year, $4 billion agreement for the sale of rough diamonds by Alrosa to De Beers. De Beers offered to end the agreement between the two gradually, and the Commission accepted it, ruling that the two are no longer allowed to trade rough between them.

Alrosa appealed the ruling. Alrosa vice president Sergey Oulin told IDEX Online last month that they decided to appeal the decision because “it violates our rights.”

The court ruled that the “commission merely accepted the commitments proposed by De Beers at face value, without looking for alternative solutions which might have better respected the contractual freedom of the parties.”

According to Audrey Lemonnier, press officer competition policy, the Commission will present its appeal towards to end of September to European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

The court will set a date for hearings at that time.

In response to the news, De Beers Media Relations Manager Lynette Gould said they were not surprised by the decision. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will evaluate all of our options.”

(Last updated September 4, 2007, 8:36 am)