Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2000:41
Date: 2000-02-17
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: Fourth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Competition;Agreements, decisions and concerted practices
Concepts: Statement of reasons;General;Pleas in law;Division of powers between the Commission and the authorities of the Member States;Bringing matters before the Commission
Procedure: Action for annulment - successful
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Definition — Measures producing 
binding legal effect — Administrative procedure for applying the competition rules — 
Preliminary observations of the Commission — Notification provided for by Article 6 
of Regulation No 99/63 — Preparatory acts — Comfort letter emanating from a 
member of the Commission's staff— Actionable measure 
(EC Treaty, Art. 173 (now, after amendment, Art. 230 EC); Commission Regulations 
Nos 17, Art. 3(2), and 99/63, Art. 6) 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-241/97 
2. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision of 
the Commission to reopen the procedure for examining a complaint of infringement of 
the competition rules 
(EC Treaty, Art. 190 (now Art. 253 EC ); Commission Regulations Nos 17, Art. 3(2) 
and 99/63, Art. 6) 
3. Actions for annulment — Fleas in law — Inadequate statement of reasons — Court's 
examination of its own motion 
4. Competition — Administrative procedure — Examination of complaints — Commis­
sion's decision to take no further action — Effect on the national courts' assessment of 
the agreement at issue 
(EC Treaty, Art. 85 (now Article 81 EC); Commission Regulations Nos 17, Art. 3(2) 
and 99/63, Art. 6) 
1. Any measure the legal effects of which 
are binding on and capable of affecting 
the interests of the applicant, by bring­
ing about a distinct change in his legal 
position, is an act or a decision which 
may be the subject of an action for 
annulment, regardless of the particular 
form in which it is adopted. In parti­
cular, in cases of acts or decisions 
drawn up in a procedure involving 
several stages, and particularly at the 
end of an internal procedure, it is in 
principle only those measures which 
definitively determine the position of 
the institution upon the conclusion of 
that procedure which are open to 
challenge and not intermediate mea­
sures whose purpose is to prepare for 
the final decision. 
In the context of the procedure for 
considering a complaint alleging infrin­
gement of the competition rules 
brought under Article 3 of Regulation 
No 17, which comprises three succes­
sive stages, neither the preliminary 
observations, if any, made in the con­
text of the first of those stages, nor 
notifications under Article 6 of Regu­
lation No 99/63, can be regarded as 
measures open to challenge. On the 
other hand, comfort letters definitively 
rejecting a complaint and closing the 
file may be the subject of an action, 
since they have the content and effect 
of a decision, inasmuch as they close 
the investigation, contain an assess­
ment of the agreements in question 
and prevent the applicants from requir­
ing the reopening of the investigation 
unless they put forward new evidence. 
Commission letters that contain a clear 
appraisal of the agreement in question 
and, in particular, of its economic 
importance and which inform the per­
sons concerned of the Commission's 
intention to take no further action on 
the matter belong to the last stage of 
the procedure and may therefore be the 
subject of an action for annulment, 
even if they emanate from a member of 
the Commission's staff rather than 
from the Member of the Commission 
II - 310 
STORK AMSTERDAM V COMMISSION' 
responsible for competition matters, 
since all the indications are that the 
decision to take no further action on 
the matter constitutes the final step in 
the administrative procedure and 
finally determines the Commission's 
position. 
(see paras 49, 52-53, 63) 
2. The extent of the obligation to state 
reasons depends on the nature of the 
measure in question and on the context 
in which it was adopted. The statement 
of reasons must disclose in a clear and 
unequivocal fashion the reasoning of 
the institution, in such a way as to give 
the persons concerned sufficient infor­
mation to enable them to ascertain 
whether the decision is well founded or 
whether it is vitiated by a defect which 
may permit its legality to be contested, 
and to enable the Community judica­
ture to carry out its review of the 
legality of the measure. 
In particular, there must be a statement 
of reasons for any decision whereby the 
Commission, going back on its initial 
position to take no further action on a 
complaint of infringement of the com­
petition rules because of its limited 
economic importance at Community 
level, decides to reopen the procedure. 
(see paras 73, 76-77, 82) 
3. The obligation to state the reasons for a 
measure with sufficient precision, 
enshrined in Article 190 of the Treaty 
(now Article 253 EC), is one of the 
fundamental principles of Community 
law which the Court has to ensure are 
observed, if necessary by considering of 
its own motion a plea of failure to fulfil 
that obligation. 
(see para. 74) 
4. Comfort letters concerning a complaint 
of infringement of the competition 
rules, which reflect the Commission's 
assessment and bring its examination 
to an end, do not have the effect of 
preventing a national court before 
which the agreement in question is 
alleged to be incompatible with Arti­
cle 85 of the Treaty (now Article 81 
EC), from reaching a different finding 
as regards that agreement on the basis 
of the information available to it. 
II-311 
SUMMARY — CASE T-241/97 
Whilst such letters do not bind the 
national court, the opinion expressed 
in them constitutes a factor which a 
national court may take into account in 
considering whether the agreement or 
conduct in question is compatible with 
the provisions of Article 85 of the 
Treaty. 
(see para. 84) 
II - 312