Case C-226/11: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 13 December 2012 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation — France) — Expedia Inc. v Autorité de la concurrence and Others (Competition — Article 101(1) TFEU — Agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Appreciable restriction — Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 — Article 3(2) — National competition authority — Practices which may affect trade between Member States — Proceedings and penalty — Market share thresholds of the de minimis notice not attained — Restrictions by object)
Date: 2012-12-13
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU Member State, administrative powers, cartel, competition policy, interpretation of the law, jurisdiction, marketing standard








C_2013038EN.01000601.xml










9.2.2013   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 38/6





Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 13 December 2012 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation — France) — Expedia Inc. v Autorité de la concurrence and Others
(Case C-226/11) (1)

(Competition - Article 101(1) TFEU - Agreements, decisions and concerted practices - Appreciable restriction - Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 - Article 3(2) - National competition authority - Practices which may affect trade between Member States - Proceedings and penalty - Market share thresholds of the de minimis notice not attained - Restrictions by object)
2013/C 38/05
Language of the case: French

Referring court

Cour de cassation

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Expedia Inc.

Defendants: Autorité de la concurrence, Ministre de l'Économie, de l’Industrie et de l’Emploi, Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF), Voyages-SNCF.Com, Agence Voyages-SNCF.Com, VFE Commerce, IDTGV

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Cour de cassation (France) — Interpretation of Article 101(1) TFEU and Article 3(2) of Council Regulation No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty (OJ 2003 L 1, p. 1) — Relationship between Articles 101 and 102 TFEU and national competition laws — Possibility for national courts and national competition authorities to bring proceedings and to impose penalties in respect of an agreement, decision or concerted practice which may affect trade between Member States but which does not exceed the market share thresholds laid down by the Commission — Agreement with an anti-competitive object.

Operative part of the judgment

Articles 101(1) TFUE and 3(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 (EC) and 82 (EC) must be interpreted as not precluding a national competition authority from applying Article 101(1) TFEU to an agreement between undertakings that may affect trade between Member States, but that does not reach the thresholds specified by the European Commission in its notice on agreements of minor importance which do not appreciably restrict competition under Article 81(1), (EC) (de minimis), provided that that agreement constitutes an appreciable restriction of competition within the meaning of that provision.


(1)  OJ C 211, 16.7.2011.