Criminal proceedings against Ioannis Doulamis.
Date: 2008-03-13
13. In that regard, it must be borne in mind that, in accordance with settled case-law, in the context of the cooperation between the Court of Justice and the national courts under Article 234 EC, it is solely for the national court, before which the dispute has been brought and which must assume responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision, to determine in the light of the particular circumstances of the case both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable it to deliver judgment and the relevance of the questions which it submits to the Court. Consequently, where the questions submitted for a preliminary ruling concern the interpretation of Community law, the Court is, in principle, bound to give a ruling (see Case C-379/98 PreussenElektra  [2001] ECR I‑2099, paragraph 38, and Case C-35/99 Arduino  [2002] ECR I-1529, paragraph 24).
14. Nevertheless, in exceptional circumstances, the Court can examine the conditions in which the case was referred to it by the national court, in order to assess whether it has jurisdiction. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred for a preliminary ruling by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law that is sought bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it (see, inter alia, Arduino , paragraph 25, and Case C-425/06 Part Service [2008] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 34).
19. According to settled case-law, although it is true that Articles 81 EC and 82 EC are, in themselves, concerned solely with the conduct of undertakings and not with laws or regulations emanating from Member States, those articles, read in conjunction with Article 10 EC, which lays down a duty to cooperate, none the less require 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 (see Joined Cases C‑94/04 and C‑202/04 Cipolla and Others  [2006] ECR I‑11421, paragraph 46).
20. The Court has held that Articles 10 EC and 81 EC are infringed where a Member State requires or encourages the adoption of agreements, decisions or concerted practices contrary to Article 81 EC or reinforces their effects, or where it divests its own rules of the character of legislation by delegating to private economic operators responsibility for taking decisions affecting the economic sphere ( Cipolla and Others , paragraph 47).
23. Lastly, even if it were possible to classify Mr Doulamis, in his capacity as proprietor of a dental clinic, as an ‘undertaking’ for the purpose of Article 81 EC, as interpreted by the Court (see, to that effect, Case C‑41/90 Höfner and Elser  [1991] ECR I‑1979, paragraph 21), it does not follow from the order for reference that what is at issue here is any kind of agreement between undertakings, decision by associations of undertakings or concerted practice which may affect trade between the Member States, the object or effect of which is to prevent, restrict or distort competition within the common market.