Union française de l'express (Ufex), formerly Syndicat français de l'express international (SFEI), DHL International and Service CRIE v Commission of the European Communities and May Courier.
Date: 1999-03-04
66 On this point, it need only be observed that the appraisal by the Court of First Instance of the evidence put before it does not constitute a point of law which is subject to review by the Court of Justice on appeal, except where the clear sense of that evidence has been distorted or the substantive inaccuracy of the Court of First Instance's findings is apparent from the documents in the case-file (Case C-53/92 P Hilti v Commission [1994] ECR I-667, paragraph 42, Case C-136/92 P Commission v Brazzelli Lualdi and Others [1994] ECR I-1981, paragraphs 48 and 49, and Joined Cases C-241/91 P and C-242/91 P RTE and ITP v Commission [1995] ECR I-743, paragraph 67; see also the order of 17 September 1996 in Case C-19/95 P San Marco v Commission [1996] ECR I-4435, paragraph 39), which the appellants do not maintain.
79 In view of the fact that the assessment of the Community interest raised by a complaint depends on the circumstances of each case, the number of criteria of assessment the Commission may refer to should not be limited, nor conversely should it be required to have recourse exclusively to certain criteria.
80 In a field such as competition law, the factual and legal circumstances may differ considerably from case to case, so that it is permissible for the Court of First Instance to apply criteria which have not hitherto been considered.
86 It should be observed, to begin with, that according to the settled case-law of this Court, the Commission must consider attentively all the matters of fact and of law which the complainants bring to its attention (Case 210/81 Demo-Studio Schmidt v Commission [1983] ECR 3045, paragraph 19, Case 298/83 CICCE v Commission [1985] ECR 1105, paragraph 18, and Joined Cases 142/84 and 156/84 BAT and Reynolds v Commission [1987] ECR 4487, paragraph 20). Furthermore, complainants are entitled to have the fate of their complaint settled by a decision of the Commission against which an action may be brought (Case C-282/95 P Guérin Automobiles v Commission [1997] ECR I-1503, paragraph 36).
87 However, Article 3 of Regulation No 17 of the Council of 6 February 1962, First Regulation implementing Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty (OJ, English Special Edition 1959-1962, p. 87), does not give a person making an application under that article the right to insist that the Commission take a final decision as to the existence or non-existence of the alleged infringement (Case 125/78 GEMA v Commission [1979] ECR 3173, paragraphs 17 and 18).
88 The Commission, entrusted by Article 89(1) of the EC Treaty with the task of ensuring application of the principles laid down in Articles 85 and 86, is responsible for defining and implementing the orientation of Community competition policy (Case C-234/89 Delimitis v Henninger Bräu [1991] ECR I-935, paragraph 44). In order to perform that task effectively, it is entitled to give differing degrees of priority to the complaints brought before it.
89 The discretion which the Commission has for that purpose is not unlimited, however.
91 Since the reasons stated must be sufficiently precise and detailed to enable the Court of First Instance effectively to review the Commission's use of its discretion to define priorities (Case C-19/93 P Rendo and Others v Commission [1995] ECR I-3319, paragraph 27), the Commission must set out the facts justifying the decision and the legal considerations on the basis of which it was adopted (BAT and Reynolds, paragraph 72, and Joined Cases 43/82 and 63/82 VBVB and VBBB v Commission [1984] ECR 19, paragraph 22).
94 If anti-competitive effects continue after the practices which caused them have ceased, the Commission thus remains competent under Articles 2, 3(g) and 86 of the Treaty to act with a view to eliminating or neutralising them (see, to that effect, Case 6/72 Europemballage and Continental Can v Commission [1973] ECR 215, paragraphs 24 and 25).