Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Actions for annulment of measures ° Actionable measuress ° Measures affecting the applicant' s legal situation ° Commission decision deferring examination of certain issues raised by a complaint made pursuant to Regulation No 17 until proceedings have been brought under Article 169 of the Treaty

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169; Council Regulation No 17; Commission Regulation No 99/63)

2. Actions for annulment of measures ° Natural or legal persons ° Measures of direct and individual concern to them ° Commission decision in the field of competition ° Complainant undertakings mentioned by name ° Admissibility of the application confined to the provisions dealing with the allegations set out in the complaint

(EEC Treaty, Art. 173, second para.)

3. Competition ° Administrative procedure ° Examination of complaints ° Obligation of the Commission to rule by decision on the existence of an infringement ° None

(EEC Treaty, Art. 90(2); Council Regulation No 17, Art. 3)

4. Competition ° Administrative procedure ° Decision by the Commission not to rule on a complaint relating to an agreement between undertakings until the close of proceedings brought under Article 169 of the Treaty relating to national legislation imposing restrictions virtually identical to those laid down by the agreement ° Whether permissible

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169; Council Regulation No 17)

5. Acts of the institutions ° Statement of reasons ° Obligation ° Scope

(EEC Treaty, Art. 190)

6. Procedure ° Originating application ° Procedural requirements ° Brief statement of the grounds relied on

(Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 19; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 38(1); Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 44(1))

Summary

1. An application for annulment brought by the originator of a complaint under Regulation No 17 against a Commission decision deferring examination of the national legislation under cover of which the anti-competitive practices alleged in the complaint take place until proceedings have been brought under Article 169 of the Treaty is admissible, since that decision, albeit not a decision closing the file, is definitive in that respect and is therefore capable of affecting the applicant' s legal position from the procedural point of view.

The procedural position of parties who have submitted a complaint to the Commission is fundamentally different in the context of proceedings initiated under Article 169 of the Treaty than it is in the context of a procedure under Regulation No 17. In the case of a procedure initiated under Regulation No 17, the complainants have procedural rights which are clearly defined by Regulation No 99/63 and are entitled to judicial review of the Commission' s final decision. In contrast, in the case of proceedings under Article 169 of the Treaty, persons who have lodged a complaint do not have such procedural rights, nor are they entitled to bring an action before the Community judicature against the Commission' s decision closing the file on their complaint.

2. The fact that an undertaking is mentioned by name in a measure does not necessarily mean that all the provisions of that measure are of direct and individual concern to it within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 173 of the Treaty. Accordingly, the fact that a Commission decision taken pursuant to Regulation No 17 mentions the complainant undertakings by name does not authorize them to contest parts of that decision not dealing with allegations made in their complaint.

3. In the context of a procedure initiated under Regulation No 17, the Commission is not bound, once it has found that there is an infringement, to adopt a decision requiring the undertakings concerned to bring it to an end and the originator of a complaint is not entitled to require it to take a decision as to whether or not the alleged infringement exists. The position might be different only if the subject-matter of the complaint fell within the exclusive competence of the Commission. However, that is not the case so far as the application of Article 90(2) of the Treaty is concerned.

4. It is justified for the Commission to adopt a decision in the context of a procedure under Regulation No 17 not to rule on restrictions on electricity imports contained in an agreement between undertakings until such time as the compatibility with Community law of legislation in force in the Member State where the agreement is applied, imposing virtually identical restrictions likely to have the same effects, has been examined in infringement proceedings which it intends to bring.

The Commission cannot, with a view to terminating an infringement of Article 85 of the Treaty, require undertakings to adopt conduct which is contrary to a national law without assessing that law in the light of Community law. The proper procedure available to the Commission for the purposes of such an assessment, which is liable to involve national public policy interests, is that provided for in Article 169 of the Treaty, in which the Member States are directly involved and in which it is for the Court of Justice to find, if that is the case, that a national law constitutes an infringement of the Treaty.

5. The interest which persons, other than addressees of a measure, to whom the measure is nevertheless of direct and individual concern may have in obtaining explanations must be taken into account when determining the extent of the obligation to state reasons for the measure.

6. The originating application must contain a brief statement of the grounds on which it is based. This means that it must specify the grounds on which the action is based, with the result that a mere abstract statement of the grounds does not satisfy the requirements of the Statute of the Court of Justice or the Rules of Procedure. Consequently, a mere reference to an infringement of essential procedural requirements cannot , in the absence of specific allegations relating to the procedural requirement which has purportedly been disregarded, be considered sufficient.