Centro Servizi Spediporto Srl v Spedizioni Marittima del Golfo Srl.
Date: 1995-10-05
19 The rules on competition laid down in the Treaty apply to the transport sector (judgments in Case C-185/91 Reiff [1993] ECR I-5801, paragraph 12, and in Case C-153/93 Delta Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft [1994] ECR I-2517, paragraph 12).
20 Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty are, in themselves, concerned solely with the conduct of undertakings and not with laws or regulations adopted by Member States. However, it is settled law that Articles 85 and 86, read in conjunction with Article 5 of the Treaty, require the Member States not to introduce or maintain in force measures, even of a legislative or regulatory nature, which may render ineffective the competition rules applicable to undertakings (as to Article 85 of the Treaty, see the judgments in Case 267/86 Van Eycke [1988] ECR 4769, paragraph 16; in Reiff, paragraph 14, and in Delta Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft, paragraph 14; as to Article 86 of the Treaty, see the judgment in Case 13/77 GB-Inno-BM [1977] ECR 2115, paragraph 31).
21 The Court has held that Articles 5 and 85 are infringed where a Member State requires or favours the adoption of agreements, decisions or concerted practices contrary to Article 85 or reinforces their effects, or where it deprives its own rules of the character of legislation by delegating to private economic operators responsibility for taking decisions affecting the economic sphere (see the judgments in Van Eycke, paragraph 16, in Reiff, paragraph 14, and in Delta Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft, paragraph 14).
22 In its judgments in Reiff (paragraph 15) and in Delta Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft (paragraph 15), the Court, considering similar questions regarding the determination of tariff rates for the long-distance carriage of goods by road and for commercial inland waterways transport in Germany, held that, in order to give a helpful answer to the national court, the first matter which had to be considered was whether the existence of an agreement, decision or concerted practice within the meaning of Article 85 of the Treaty could be inferred from rules such as those in question in the main proceedings.
23 As regards national rules such as those laid down by the Italian Law, it should be noted, first, that the central committee is composed of 17 representatives of the public authorities and of a minority of 12 representatives of associations of economic agents.
24 Moreover, upon the adoption of its proposals, the central committee is obliged to observe various criteria defined in the Law and specified in Decree No 56 of the President of the Italian Republic, cited above.
26 The next matter to be considered, as the Court stated in its judgments in Reiff (paragraph 20) and in Delta Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft (paragraph 19), is whether the public authorities have delegated their powers, concerning the fixing of tariffs, to private economic agents.
27 It is to be noted here that the Italian Law provides that the central committee is to propose to the competent minister the transportation tariffs and any special conditions governing their application and it confers on the minister the power to approve them, to reject them or to amend them before bringing them into force.
28 Furthermore, 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.
29 The fact that collective agreements may be concluded pursuant to Article 13 of the aforesaid Ministerial Decree of 18 November 1982 does not have the effect of restricting competition but allows certain derogations from the mandatory tariffs, and therefore increases the possibility of competition.
31 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 placing it in a position to behave to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors, of its customers and ultimately of the consumers (judgment in Case 85/76 Hoffmann-La Roche v Commission [1979] ECR 461, paragraph 38).
32 The Court has held that Article 86 of the Treaty prohibits abusive practices resulting from the exploitation by one or more undertakings of a dominant position on the common market or in a substantial part of it in so far as those practices may affect trade between Member States (judgment in Case C-393/92 Almelo and Others [1994] ECR I-1477, paragraph 40).
33 However, in order for it to be held that such a collective dominant position exists, the undertakings in the group must be linked in such a way that they adopt the same conduct on the market (judgment in Almelo and Others, cited above, paragraph 42).
34 National legislation which provides for the fixing of road-haulage tariffs by the public authorities cannot be regarded as placing economic agents in a collective dominant position characterized by the absence of competition between them.
41 On this point, it is sufficient to observe that legislation of the kind enacted in the Italian Law makes no distinction according to the origin of the goods transported, its purpose is not to regulate trade in goods with other Member States and the restrictive effects which it might have on the free movement of goods are too uncertain and indirect in order for the obligation which it lays down to be regarded as being such as to hinder trade between Member States (judgment in Case C-379/92 Peralta [1994] ECR I-3453, paragraph 24, and the case-law cited therein).
45 The Court has consistently held that it has no jurisdiction to rule on questions submitted by a national court if they bear no relation to the facts or the subject-matter of the main action and are therefore not strictly needed in order to decide the case (judgment in Case C-18/93 Corsica Ferries [1994] ECR I-1783, paragraph 14, and the case-law cited therein).