Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Competition - Administrative procedure - Principle of full disclosure between parties - Scope - Limits - Disclosure of the file to complainants

(EC Treaty, Arts 85 and 86 (now Arts 81 EC and 82 C); Council Regulation No 17, Art. 19)

2. Competition - Administrative procedure - Examination of complaints - Obligations of the Commission

3. Acts of the institutions - Statement of reasons - Obligation - Scope - Commission decision rejecting a complaint alleging infringement of the competition rules - Reference to a document annexed

(EC Treaty, Art.190 (now Art. 253 EC))

4. Competition - Dominant position - Relevant market - Delimitation - Criteria

(EC Treaty, Art. 86 (now Art. 82 EC))

5. Acts of the institutions - Statement of reasons - Contradictory - Effects

(EC Treaty, Art. 190 (now Art. 253 EC))

Summary

1. The principle that there must be full disclosure in the administrative procedure before the Commission in matters concerning the competition rules applicable to undertakings applies only to undertakings which may be penalised by a Commission decision finding an infringement of Articles 85 or 86 of the Treaty (now Articles 81 EC and 82 EC), since the rights of third parties, as laid down by Article 19 of Regulation No 17, are limited to the right to participate in the administrative procedure. In particular, third parties cannot claim to have a right of access to the file held by the Commission on the same basis as the undertakings under investigation.

( see para. 34 )

2. Once the Commission decides to proceed with an investigation of a complaint referred to it, it must, in the absence of a duly substantiated statement of reasons, conduct it with the requisite care, seriousness and diligence so as to be able to assess with full knowledge of the case the factual and legal particulars submitted for its appraisal by the complainants.

Where the Commission's investigation was carried out over a period of more than four years, during which the Commission collected comments from a significant number of undertakings in the sector, analysed them and gave the complainant an opportunity to put forward, on several occasions, all such information as could be taken into account, the Commission carried out all its activities with the requisite care, seriousness and diligence.

( see paras 45-46 )

3. A reference in a document to a separate document must be considered in the light of Article 190 of the EC Treaty (now Article 253 EC) and does not breach the obligation to state reasons incumbent on the Community institutions.

In particular, a Commission decision sent to the author of a complaint that gave rise to an investigation, which referred to a document containing the grounds of the rejection of the complaint, disclosed with sufficient clarity the reasons for which that complaint was rejected, and thus fulfilled the obligation to state reasons under Article 190 of the Treaty.

( see para. 51 )

4. For the purposes of investigating the possibly dominant position of an undertaking on a given market, the possibilities of competition must be judged in the context of the market comprising the totality of the products which, with respect to their characteristics, are particularly suitable for satisfying constant needs and are only to a limited extent interchangeable with other products.

The absence of interchangeability between different types and dimensions of a product from the point of view of the specific needs of the user does not imply that, for each of those types and dimensions, there is a distinct market for the purposes of determining whether there is a dominant position. Furthermore, since the determination of the relevant market is useful in assessing whether the undertaking concerned is in a position to prevent effective competition from being maintained and behave to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors and customers and consumers, an examination to that end cannot be limited to the objective characteristics only of the relevant products but the competitive conditions and the structure of supply and demand on the market must also be taken into consideration.

( see para. 62 )

5. A contradiction in the statement of the reasons on which a decision is based constitutes a breach of the obligation laid down in Article 190 of the Treaty (now Article 253 EC) such as to affect the validity of the measure in question if it is established that, as a result of that contradiction, the addressee of the measure is not in a position to ascertain, wholly or in part, the real reasons for the decision and, as a result, the operative part of the decision is, wholly or in part, devoid of any legal justification.

( see para. 85 )