Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2000:299
Date: 2000-06-06
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Economic and monetary policy
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgment 
Competition — Community rules — National legislation on book prices — Compat­
ibility following incorporation into the EC Treaty of provisions relating to the internal 
market 
(EC Treaty, Arts 3(c) and (g), 7a, 30 and 36 (now, after amendment, Arts 3(c) and (g) EC, 
14 EC, 28 EC and 30 EC), Arts 3a, 5, 85, 102a and 103 (now Arts 4 EC, 10 EC, 81 EC, 
98 EC and 99 EC) and Art. 14 (repealed by the Amsterdam Treaty)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-9/99 
Articles 3(c) and (g) of the Treaty (now, 
after amendment, Article 3(c) and (g) EC), 
3a and 5 of the Treaty (now Articles 4 EC 
and 10 EC), the second paragraph of 
Article 7a of the Treaty (now, after amend­
ment, Article 14(2) EC) and Articles 102a 
and 103 of the Treaty (now Articles 98 EC 
and 99 EC) do not preclude the application 
of national legislation requiring publishers 
to impose on booksellers fixed prices for 
the resale of books. 
Article 3 of the Treaty, which determines 
the fields and objectives to which the 
activities of the Community are to relate, 
lays down the general principles of the 
common market, which are to be applied in 
conjunction with the respective chapters of 
the Treaty devoted to their implementation. 
The Single European Act inserted an Arti­
cle 8 a (which became Article 7a of the EC 
Treaty, and then, after amendment, Arti­
cle 14 EC), which defines the internal 
market and provides for measures for its 
establishment. The internal market now 
constitutes one of the objectives of the 
Community (Article 3(c) of the Treaty). 
Those provisions also define general objec­
tives and must be read in conjunction with 
the provisions of the Treaty designed to 
implement those objectives. Since Arti­
cles 30 and 36 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Articles 28 EC and 30 EC) 
and 85 of the Treaty (now Article 81 EC) 
have not been amended, the Court's inter­
pretation of them in Case 229/83 Leclerc 
and Thouars Distribution, in conjunction 
with Article 5 of the Treaty, cannot be 
called in question. 
As regards Articles 3a, 102a and 103 of the 
Treaty, which refer to economic policy, the 
implementation of which must comply 
with the principle of an open market 
economy with free competition (Articles 3a 
and 102a), those provisions do not impose 
on the Member States clear and uncondi­
tional obligations which may be relied on 
by individuals before the national courts. 
What is involved is a general principle 
whose application calls for complex eco­
nomic assessments which are a matter for 
the legislature or the national administra­
tion. 
(see paras 22-25 and operative part) 
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