Order of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 27 March 2014 — Bright Service

(Case C‑142/13)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Article 99 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Article 81 EC — Exclusive purchasing agreement — Exemption — Regulation (EEC) No 1984/83 — Agreement to which the exemption applies — Regulation (EC) No 2790/1999 — Agreement to which the exemption does not apply — Temporal effects of the exemption’

1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Clearly irrelevant questions and hypothetical questions put in a context not permitting a useful answer — Questions bearing no relation to the subject matter of the case in the main proceedings (Art. 267 TFEU) (see para. 20)

2. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Jurisdiction of the national court — Necessity of a question referred and relevance of the questions raised — Assessment by the national court (Art. 267 TFEU) (see para. 23)

3. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Prohibition — Block exemption — Exclusive purchasing agreements — Agreement concluded under Regulation No 1984/83 having effect after the entry into force of Regulation No 2790/1999 — Agreement satisfying the requirements for exemption of Regulation No 1984/83, but not those of Regulation No 2790/1999 — Temporal limitation of the exemption (Art. 81 EC; Commission Regulations No 1984/83, as amended by Regulation No 1582/97, and No 2790/1999, Art. 12(2)) (see paras 29-33, operative part)

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona — Interpretation of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1984/83 of 22 June 1983 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to categories of exclusive purchasing agreements (OJ 1983 L 173, p. 5) and Article 3(1) and (5)(a) and Article 12(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2790/1999 of 22 December 1999 on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices (OJ 1999 L 336, p. 21) — Temporal effects — Exclusive distribution agreement for motor‑vehicle fuels and other fuels between a supplier and a service station operator — Agreement concluded under Regulation No 1984/83 having effect after the entry into force of Regulation No 2790/1999 — Agreement which does not satisfy the requirements of those two regulations.

Operative part:

Article 12(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2790/1999 of 22 December 1999 on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices must be interpreted as meaning that a contract — containing a non-compete clause — which was already in force on 31 May 2000 and which satisfies the conditions laid down in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1984/83 of 22 June 1983 on the application of Article 85(3) of the Treaty to categories of exclusive purchasing agreements, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1582/97 of 30 July 1997, but which does not satisfy the conditions of Regulation No 2790/1999, is excepted, under Article 12(2), from the scope of Article 81(1) EC only until 31 December 2001.