European Court of Justice Announce Decision for Specialty Graphite Case

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today announced its decision in the “Specialty Graphite” case, thereby confirming the judgment of the European Court of First Instance (CFI) from June 15, 2005. The CFI had reduced the €27.8 million fine originally imposed by the European Commission in December 2002 to €18.5 million due to severe procedural defects committed by the Commission.

As announced at the year-end press conference on March 8, 2007, the SGL Group had already covered all the financial expenses arising from the pending antitrust proceedings in the balance sheet in the form of cash deposits and provisions. Therefore, neither this decision nor the third proceeding pending before the Court will have a negative financial impact on the SGL Group.