Autotrasporti Librandi Snc di Librandi F. & C. v Cuttica spedizioni e servizi internationali Srl.
Date: 1998-10-01
26 It is established case-law that Articles 5 and 85 are infringed where a Member State requires or favours the adoption of restrictive agreements contrary to Article 85 or reinforces their effects, or where it deprives its own rules of the character of State legislation by delegating to private economic operators responsibility for taking decisions affecting the economic sphere (see Case 267/86 Van Eycke [1988] ECR 4769, paragraph 16; Case C-185/91 Reiff [1993] ECR I-5801, paragraph 14; and Case C-153/93 Delta Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft [1994] ECR I-2517, paragraph 14).
27 The Court has held that Articles 3(g), 5 and 86 of the Treaty could only apply to legislation of the kind contained in the Italian Law if it were proved that the legislation concerned placed an undertaking in a position of economic strength enabling it to prevent effective competition from being maintained on the relevant market by allowing it to behave to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors, of its customers and ultimately of the consumers (Case 85/76 Hoffmann-La Roche v Commission [1979] ECR 461, paragraph 38).
30 In concluding, first of all, that under a system for determining road-haulage tariffs such as that established by the Italian Law, proposals discussed by the committee could not be regarded as restrictive agreements between economic agents which the public authorities imposed or favoured or the effects of which they reinforced, the Court, in paragraphs 22 to 24 of its judgment in Centro Servizi Spediporto noted that the central committee was composed of a majority of representatives of the public authorities and of a minority of representatives of associations of economic agents and that the central committee was obliged, when adopting its proposals, to observe a number of public interest criteria defined in the Italian Law.
31 Secondly, in holding that the public authorities had not delegated their tariff-fixing powers to private economic agents, the Court found, in paragraphs 26 to 28 of its judgment in Centro Servizi Spediporto, that, according to the Italian Law, the central committee proposes to the competent minister the road-haulage tariffs and any special conditions governing their application.  The Italian Law also confers on the minister the power to approve them, to reject them or to amend them before bringing them into force and provides that, before approving the tariffs and bringing them into force, the minister must consult the regions and the representatives of the economic sectors concerned and must have regard to the guidelines issued by the Interministerial Committee on Prices.
35 Second, the amendment of the Italian Law does not entail a delegation by the public authorities of their powers to private economic agents since the power of the competent minister to reject or amend transport tariffs proposed to him by the central committee and his obligation to consult the regions and the representatives of the economic sectors concerned remain unchanged.
38 By its third question the national court asks whether the concept of general interest to which the Court referred in its judgments in the Reiff and Delta Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft cases corresponds to the concept of public interest mentioned in its judgment in the Centro Servizi Spediporto case.
42 The answer to be given to the third question must therefore be that the concept of general interest to which the Court referred in its judgments in the Reiff and Delta Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft cases corresponds to the concept of public interest mentioned in its judgment in Centro Servizi Spediporto.
The fourth and fifth questions
44 In order to give a helpful reply to that enquiry, it should be recalled that it is established case-law that Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty, read together with Article 5 of the Treaty, require the Member States to refrain from introducing or maintaining in force measures, even of a legislative or regulatory nature, which may render ineffective the competition rules applicable to undertakings (judgment in Centro Servizi Spediporto, paragraph 20).
50 In this regard, it must be recalled first of all that the Court has held that the fact that collective agreements, such as those provided for in Article 13 of the Ministerial Decree of 18 November 1982, may be concluded does not have the effect of restricting competition but allows certain derogations from the mandatory tariffs and therefore increases the scope for competition (judgment in Centro Servizi Spediporto, paragraph 29).