Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2002:78
Date: 2002-03-20
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Fourth Chamber, Extended Composition
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Competition;Dominant position
Concepts: Examples of abuse
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment 
Competition — Dominant position — Abuse — Undertaking with a statutory mon­
opoly in the postal sector — Use of income deriving from a reserved market — 
Acquisition of joint control of an undertaking active in the non-reserved market — 
Compatibility with Article 82 EC — Conditions 
(Art. 82 EC) 
II - 1915 
SUMMARY — CASE T-175/99 
The acquisition by an undertaking with a 
statutory monopoly in the postal sector of a 
holding in the capital of a company which 
is active in the non-reserved market of 
parcel distribution could raise problems in 
the light of the Community competition 
rules where the funds used by the under­
taking holding the monopoly derived from 
excessive or discriminatory prices or from 
other unfair practices in its reserved mar­
ket. In such a situation, where there are 
grounds for suspecting an infringement of 
Article 82 EC, it is necessary to examine the 
source of the funds used for the acquisition 
in question in order to determine whether 
that acquisition stems from an abuse of a 
dominant position. 
In the absence of any evidence to show that 
the funds used by the undertaking holding a 
monopoly for the acquisition in question 
derived from abusive practices on its part in 
the reserved letter market, the mere fact 
that it used those funds to acquire joint 
control of an undertaking active in a 
neighbouring market open to competition 
does not in itself, even if the source of those 
funds was the reserved market, raise any 
problem from the standpoint of the com­
petition rules and cannot therefore con­
stitute an infringement of Article 82 EC or 
give rise to an obligation on the Commis­
sion to examine the source of those funds in 
the light of that article. 
(see paras 55, 61) 
II - 1916