Hof van Justitie seponeerde een kwart van alle antitrust-zaken sinds 1989 (en)

One in four anti trust cases brought by the European Commission to the EU's Court of First Instance (CFI) were annulled fully or in part.

These figures were highlighted by the CFI president Bo Vesterdorf in a bid to demonstrate that the court is doing its job well.

Speaking in Switzerland at the St Gallen International Competition Law Forum, Mr Vesterdorf said his court had annulled fully or partly 94 of 372 commission competition judgments since the court was established in 1989.

"These annulments of the commission's decisions cannot, in my view, be taken as a sign that the commission is not doing its job properly, but rather that our system of judicial review is highly effective," Mr Vesterdorf said, according to Reuters.

The Court of First Instance has the power to annul decisions if it finds the commission made errors of fact or reasoning during investigations, pitching the two institutions against each other on a number of occasions.

One of the most profiled cases currently pending at the court is the Microsoft appeal.

In a landmark decision in 2004 the commission found the software giant guilty of violating EU competition law and issued a record-high fine of €497 million.

Mr Vesterdorf is now presiding over the special judge panel to rule if the commission was right in doing so.

All cases heard at the court of first instance may be appealed to the Court of Justice, but on points of law only.