Europe's Court of First Instance last week rejected an appeal against two of the Commission's rulings made in April and September 2001.
DSD – Duales System Deutschland – operates the “green dot” system of packaging producer responsibility in Germany, in which packaging producers pay DSD to recycle packaging waste on their behalf. (see letsrecycle.com story) Those who have paid DSD's fees can place a green dot recycling symbol on their packaging.
Ruling
The Commission had ruled in 2001 that DSD abused its position because packaging producers wishing to use the widely-recognised recycling symbol were forced to use the DSD compliance service. DSD charged firms even if they found other recycling firms to provide householders with a takeback system.
The Commission had also ruled that the way in which DSD let packaging collection contracts, effectively sealed up local recycling markets for years on end.
The Court of First Instance decided in Luxembourg on May 24, to reject DSD's appeal confirming the Commission's rulings. However, DSD will be allowed to charge an “appropriate license fee” from packaging producers for use of its green dot symbol.
Welcoming the court's upholding of the rulings, the European Commission said that the consequence of the rulings had been that competing recycling systems could enter the German market and “challenge the de facto monopoly of DSD”. The prices for collection and recycling services have since dropped “appreciably” as a result, the Commission claimed.
DSD
Commenting on the case, DSD said it would “do without further legal steps in this process”, but would be meeting with the Commission to come to an understanding over the use of a trademark fee for its green dot symbol, and to confirm whether any further legal steps are to be taken by the Commission.
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Concerning the ruling on the letting of collection contracts, DSD said the issue was “no longer of importance for the current market situation”, since it had complied with the Commission's requirements in 2003. The company said it had undertaken the appeal of the ruling merely to clarify whether the Commission had been right to prevent DSD from refusing its competitors access to collection containers.
It said a clearing office has been set up to coordinate the joint use of containers and provide for “fair competition in cooperation with an independent third party”.
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