Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2012:351
Date: 2012-06-14
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Second Chamber
Subject matter: Competition;Agreements, decisions and concerted practices;Exclusive agreements
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgment Competition — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Prohibition — Block exemption — Agreements in the motor industry — Regulation No 1400/2002 — Quantitative selective distribution system — Selection of distributors or repairers on the basis of ‘specified criteria’ — Notion (Art. 101 TFEU; Commission Regulation No 1400/2002, Art. 1(1)(f)) The term ‘specified criteria’, referred to in Article 1(1)(f) of Commission Regulation No 1400/2002 on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices in the motor vehicle sector, means, with respect to a quantitative selective distribution system within the meaning of that regulation, criteria the precise content of which may be verified. In order to benefit from the exemption provided for by that regulation, it is not necessary for such a system to be based on criteria that are objectively justified and applied in a uniform and non-differentiated manner in respect of all applicants for authorisation. It is not apparent from the scheme of Regulation No 1400/2002 that the legislature wished to impose the same conditions of exemption for the quantitative and qualitative systems of selective distribution. On the contrary, given that the regulation envisages distinct exemption conditions according to whether the selective distribution in question is classified as ‘quantitative’ or ‘qualitative’, the elements set out only in Article 1(h) of the regulation cannot also be applied to Article(1)(g) of that regulation, without conflating those two types of selective distribution. (see paras 36, 39, operative part)