natgillin/translations-raw huggingface dataset:
For det første fremgår det klart af beslutningens ordlyd, således som det også hævdes af Kommissionen, at det er informationsudvekslingsordningen som helhed, der i denne sag anses for at være konkurrencebegrænsende, og ikke, at der mellem virksomhederne udveksles den ene eller den anden enkeltstående oplysning inden for rammerne af en aftale om informationsudveksling mellem virksomhederne.
First, it was clear from the terms of the Decision that, as the Commission submitted, it was the information exchange system as a whole which was considered to be anti-competitive in this case and not the dissemination between undertakings of certain information carried out under an agreement providing for exchange of information between undertakings.
For det andet finder Retten, at Domstolens praksis vedrørende fortolkningen af traktatens artikel 85, stk. 2, således som den er udtrykt i Consten og Grundig-dommen, i hvert fald ikke uden videre kan overføres på en sag vedrørende behandling af en ansøgning om fritagelse i medfør af traktatens artikel 85, stk. 3, da det i denne sidstnævnte situation er Kommissionen, der med henblik på besvarelsen af den anmodning, den har fået forelagt af de virksomheder, der har indsendt anmeldelsen til dens bedømmelse, skal tage stilling ud fra kontrakten, således som den er blevet anmeldt, medmindre den under behandlingen af sagen opnår, at parterne ændrer den anmeldte kontrakt på det ene eller det andet punkt
Secondly, the Court considered that the case-law of the Court of Justice on the interpretation of Article 85(2) of the Treaty, as expressed in the Consten and Grundig judgment, was not in any event readily transposable to a case in which an application for exemption under Article 85(3) of the Treaty was being considered, since in the latter case it was for the Commission, when responding to the application submitted to it by the notifying undertakings, to reach its decision by reference to the agreement as notified to it, unless during its investigation of the matter it was able to obtain particular amendments to the agreement as notified.
Anbringendet om, at beslutningen hviler på en forkert definition af det relevante produkt og âet relevante marked
The plea that the Decision is based on a wrong definition of the relevant product and of the relevant market
Produktmarkedet
- The product market
Hvad dernæst angår spørgsmålet, om det relevante marked har karakter af et oligopol, må sagsøgernes kritik af Kommissionens konklusion om, at markedet domineres af fire virksomheder, der har mellem 75 og 80% af markedet, afvises, eftersom det fremgår af den oversigt over markedets udvikling, som sagsøgerne selv har fremlagt som bilag 10 til stævningen, at dettes vigtigste egenskab, nemlig dets udprægede karakter af oligopol, er stabil.
As regards the question of the oligopolistic nature of the relevant market, the applicants' criticisms of the Commission's conclusion that the market was dominated by four undertakings holding between 75 and 80% of the market must be rejected, since the table showing changes in the market, which the applicants themselves produced as Annex 10 to their application, indicated consistency in the principal characteristic of the market, namely its highly oligopolistic nature.
Det fremgår således af det nævnte dokument, at de fire største leverandørers samlede markedsandel udgjorde 82,4% i 1991 sammenlignet med 82,3% i 1979.
It was apparent from that document that the aggregate market share of the four main suppliers was 82.4% for 1991 compared with 82.3% in 1979.
Hertil kommer, at det fremgår af et nærmere studium af nævnte dokument, at de vigtigste virksomheders individuelle placeringer modsat det af sagsøgerne anførte er forholdsvis stabile, hvis man bortser fra virksomheden John Deere, hvis markedsandel blev fordoblet i det nævnte tidsrum.
Moreover, close scrutiny of that document showed that, contrary to the applicants' contention, the individual positions of the main traders were stable if John Deere, which doubled its market share during that period, was left out of account.
Som Kommissionen imidlertid med rette har understreget, er dette enkeltstående tilfælde af indtrængen på markedet, som en stærk amerikansk fabrikant står bag, ikke nok til at afkræfte sagsøgtes konklusioner, hvorefter markedet er kendetegnet ved, at konkurrenternes placeringer er forholdsvis stabile, og at markedet er beskyttet.
However, as the Commission had correctly stated, this isolated case of market penetration by a powerful United States manufacturer could not weaken the Commission's conclusion that the market was characterized by relative stability of the competitors' positions and by high barriers to entry.
Retten finder, at det med henblik på besvarelsen af spørgsmålet, om Kommissionen i nærværende sag i beslutningen har taget hensyn til det pågældende markeds særlige træk, skal bedømmes, for det første, om definitionen af produktmarkedet er rigtig, og for det andet, om der i beslutningen er givet en rigtig beskrivelse af markedets egenskaber.
The Court considered that in order to decide whether the Commission had taken account of the specific characteristics of the market in question in this case, it must first be assessed whether the definition of the product market was correct and, secondly, whether the description of the characteristics of the market contained in the Decision was accurate.
Retten finder herefter i det hele, at Kommissionen med føje gør gældende, at det relevante marked har karakter af et lukket oligopol.
All in all, the Court therefore considered that the Commission was correct in contending that the relevant market displayed the characteristics of a closed oligopoly.
Retten bemærker, at det relevante marked geografisk kan defineres som det område, hvor konkurrencebetingelserne, og navnlig
As regards the definition of the product market, it was first necessary to assess the degree of substitutability of the product.
Hvad først angår definitionen af produktmarkedet bemærkes, at det må fastslås, i hvilket omfang produktet er substituerbart.
The Court considered that the relevant market may be defined geographically as the area in which conditions of competition, and in particular consumer demand, displayed sufficiently homogeneous characteristics.
I så henseende finder Retten, at sagsøgernes argument om, at der ikke i beslutningen er foretaget nogen som helst undersøgelse af produktmarkedet, må forkastes, da det i fornødent omfang fremgår af beslutningen, at det i denne er lagt til grund, at det relevante marked er markedet for landbrugstraktorer i Det
That being so, it was not ruled out that the agricultural tractor market must be characterized as a Community-wide market, as the Commission did in its decision of 8 February 1991, adopted pursuant to Article 6(l)(b) of Council
forbrugernes efterspørgsel har tilstrækkeligt homogene træk.
Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89.
Selv om dette måtte være rigtigt, er det dog ikke under alle omstændigheder udelukket, at det relevante marked, inden for hvilket adfærdens virkninger skal måles, kan defineres som et nationalt marked, når — som i nærværende sag — den kritiserede adfærd geografisk er begrænset til én af medlemsstaternes territorium.
However, assuming that view to be admissible, it did not in any event preclude the relevant market on which the effects of the practice were to be measured from being defined as a national market where, as in the present case, the practice objected to was geographically limited to the territory of one of the Member Sutes.
I en sådan situation er det leverandørerne selv, som alene ved deres egen adfærd har givet dette marked de egenskaber, som et nationalt marked har.
In such a case, it was the suppliers themselves which, by the mere fact of their own conduct, had given that market the characteristics of a national market
Anbringendet om, at traktatens artikel 85, stk 1, er blevet anvendt forkert virkeligt konkurrencepræget marked sandsynligt, at gennemsigtige forhold mellem de erhvervsdrivende principielt vil skærpe konkurrencen mellem leverandørerne, for den omstændighed, at en erhvervsdrivende i denne situation tager hensyn til de oplysninger, han har, for at tilpasse sin adfærd til markedet, vil næppe, når henses til udbuddets opsplittede karakter, for de andre forhandlere formindske eller fjerne usikkerheden med hensyn til forudsigeligheden af deres konkurrenters adfærd.
The plea of misapplication of Article 85(1) of the Treaty took into account information made available to him in order to adjust his conduct on the market was not likely, having regard to the atomized nature of the supply, to reduce or remove for the other traders any uncertainty about the foreseeable nature of its competitors' conduct.
På den anden side finder Retten — her ligesom det anføres af Kommissionen — at en generel ordning mellem de vigtigste leverandører vedrørende udveksling afdetaljerede oplysninger med korte mellemrum, hvorved der gives oplysninger om indregistrerede køretøjer og disses indregistreringssted, på et stærkt koncentreret oligopolmarked som det relevante marked, hvor konkurrencen således allerede er stærkt svækket og informationsudvekslingen gjort lettere, sandsynligvis mærkbart vil begrænse den konkurrence, der findes mellem de erhvervsdrivende.
On the other hand, the Court considered that, as the Commission argued this time, general use, as between main suppliers, of exchanges of precise information at short intervals, identifying registered vehicles and the place of their registration was, on a highly concentrated oligopolistic market such as the market in question and on which competition was as a result already greatly reduced and exchange of information facilitated, likely to impair considerably the competition which existed between traders.
Under disse omstændigheder har en ordning, hvorefter der regelmæssigt og hyppigt udveksles oplysninger om markedets funktion, til følge, at de forskellige individuelle konkurrenters placering og strategi med jævne mellemrum afsløres over for samtlige konkurrenter.
In such circumstances, the sharing, on a regular and frequent basis, of information concerning the operation of the market had the effect of periodically revealing to all the competitors the market positions and strategies of the various individual competitors.
Retten bemærker, at beslutningen som anført af sagsøgerne er den første, hvorved Kommissionen har forbudt en informationsudvekslingsordning, der ikke direkte vedrører priserne, men som heller ikke støtter en anden konkurrencebegrænsendeforanstaltning.
However, the Court observed that, as the applicants pointed out, the Decision was the first in which the Commision had prohibited an information exchange system which did not directly concern prices, but which did not underpin any other anti-competitive arrangement either.
Sagsøgerne betaler sagens omkostninger in solidum,*
Orders the applicants jointly and severally to pay the costs.'
»Konkurrence — informationsudvekslingssystem — konkurrencebegrænsende virkning—afslag på undtagelse* (Anden Afdeling)
Pleas in law and arguments of the parties transferred daily to the members of the agreement or that Form V55 was sent to them.
Anden gruppe af anbringender »almindelige betragtninger·
The second group of pleas concerning 'general arguments'
Andet anbringende: den tilsidesætter ikke konkurrenceregler
First plea: material inaccuracy of the facts on which the Decision is based
Sagsøgeren har gjort gældende, at beslutningen kun kan vedrøre det nye informationsudvekslingssystem, som blevmeddelt til Kommissionen den 12. marts 1990.
According to the applicant, the Decision may relate only to the new information exchange system notified to the Commission on 12 March 1990.
Et pålæg om at bringe en aftale, som allerede er blevet udtrykkeligt opgivet, må anses som retsstridig.
A decision requiring the parties to terminate an agreement which had been expressly abandoned is unlawful.
Følgelig kan pålægget kun vedrøre den nye aftale.
Accordingly, the Decision could relate only to the new agreement.
En sådan beslutning ville ikke være berettiget, idet Kommissionens antagelse, hvorefter de »konkurrencebegrænsende omstændigheder«, som fandtes i det gamle system, er forblevet uændret i det nye system, hviler på en faktisk vildfarelse.
Such a decision would not be justified, since the Commission's contention that the 'anticompetitive aspects' found in the old system remained unchanged in the new system was based on an error of fact.
Retten bemærker hertil for det første, at Kommissionen har ret i det synspunkt, at når den her i sagen havde fået forelagt både den første og den anden anmeldelse, var den berettiget til at undersøge begge anmeldelsers lovlighed i henhold til traktatens artikel 85, i det mindste når den anden anmeldelse ikke var indgivet af samtlige deltagere i den første anmeldelse, og når anmelderne ikke udtrykkeligt havde erklæret, at den første af de to anmeldelser blev trukket tilbage.
The Court considered first of all that the Commission was correct in contending that, since in this case both the first and the second notification were before it at the same time, it had to consider the lawfulness under Article 85 of the Treaty of both notifications, since at any rate the second notification was not made by all the signatories to the first notification and the notifying parties had not expressly declared that the first of those two notifications was being withdrawn.
Retten bemærker, at beslutningen, som anført af sagsøgeren, er den første i hvilken Kommissionen har forbudt et informationsudvekslingssystem vedrørende tilstrækkeligt homogene produkter, som ikke direkte vedrører disse produkters priser, og som heller ikke understøtter noget andet konkurrencebegrænsende arrangement.
The Court observed that, as the applicant pointed out, the Decision was the first in which the Commission had prohibited an information exchange system concerning sufficiently homogeneous products which did not directly concern the prices of those products, but which did not underpin any other anti-competitive arrangement either.
Der må gives sagsøgeren medhold i, at på et marked med reel konkurrence, vil gensidig transparens principielt være egnet til at intensivere konkurrencen mellem leverandørerne, mens i en sådan situation det forhold, at en handlende benytter tilgået information til at tilpasse sin optræden på markedet, ikke er egnet til at reducere eller fjerne de andre handlendes usikkerhed med hensyn til forudsigelse af konkurrenternes optræden, når henses til udbuddets sporadiske art Retten finder derimod, i enighed med Kommissionen og imod sagsøgerens opfattelse, at en almindelig og hyppig udveksling af informationer alene til fordel for sagsøgeren og med udelukkelse af andre udbydere og forbrugerne med hensyn til identifikation af indregistrerede køretøjer og deres registreringssted, på et oligopoli og stærkt koncentreret marked som her i sagen, hvor følgelig konkurrencen allerede er begrænset og informationsudvekslingen enkel, er egnet til i væsentlig grad at ændre konkurrencen mellem de handlende.
As the applicants correctly argued, on a truly competitive market transparency between traders was in principle likely to lead to the intensification of competition between suppliers, since in such a situation, the fact that a trader took into account information made available to him in order to adjust his conduct on the market was not likely, having regard to the atomized nature of the supply, to reduce or remove for the other traders any uncertainty about the foreseeable nature of its competitors' conduct. On the other hand, the Court considered that, as the Commission argued this time, general use, as between main suppliers and, contrary to the applicant's contention, to their sole benefit and consequently to the exclusion of the other suppliers and of consumers, of exchanges of precise information at short intervals, identifying registered vehicles and the place of their registration was, on a highly concentrated oligopolistic market such as the market in question and on which competition was as a result already greatly reduced and exchange of information facilitated, likely to impair substantially the competition which existes between traders.
I en sådan situation må det antages, at en regelmæssig og hyppig fælles adgang til oplysningerne vedrørende markedets funktion
In such circumstances, the sharing, on a regular and frequent basis, of information concerning the operation of the market had the effect of periodically revealing to all the competitors the market positions and strategies of the various individual competitors.
Retten bemærker endvidere, at Kommissionen, efter en gennemgang af informationsudvekslingssystemets forenelighed med traktatens artikel 85 på grundlag af den første anmeldelse, i beslutningens afsnit 65 dernæst har fastslået, at det tidligere i beslutningen udtalte vedrørende artikel 85, stk. 1 og 3, finder anvendelse mutatis mutandis på den ændrede anmeldelse af 12. marts 1990.
The Court found next that after examining the compatibility with Article 85 of the Treaty of the information exchange system based on the first notification, the Commission then stated in point 65 of the Decision that 'The reasoning in Article 85(1) and (3) developed hereabove applies mutatis mutandis to the amended notification of 12 March 1990'.
Sagsøgerens argument, hvorefter en sådan vurdering er i høj grad urigtig, idet det
However, the applicant's argument that such an assessment was materially incorrect, on the ground that the Data System to which the second notification relates no longer provided for the daily transfer of information or the sending of Form V55 to the members of the agreement, must be rejected.
Tredje anbringende: Det Forenede Kongeriges myndigheder har ikke tikidesat traktatens artikel 5
Third plea: the United Kingdom authorities have not infringed Article 5 of the Treaty be exchanged between the traders through the trade association to which they belonged and, secondly, having regard to the frequency of such information and its systematic nature, it also enabled a given trader to forecast more precisely the conduct of its competitors, so reducing or removing the degree of uncertainty about the operation of the market which would have existed in the absence of such an exchange of information.
Dertil kommer, at uanset hvad en handlende, der ønsker at trænge ind på markedet for landbrugstraktorer i Det Forenede Kongerige, beslutter sig til, dvs. om han vil deltage i aftalen eller ej, vil denne nødvendigvis virke til hans ugunst.
Furthermore, whatever decision was adopted by a trader wishing to penetrate the United Kingdom agricultural tractor market, and whether or not it became a member of the agreement, that agreement was necessarily disadvantageous for it.
Hvis den pågældende ikke deltager i aftalen om udveksling af oplysninger, berøves han i modsætning til sine konkurrenter de udvekslede oplysninger og den markedskendskab, som de
Either the trader concerned did not become a member of the information exchange agreement and, unlike its competitors, then forgoes the information exchanged and the market knowledge which it provided; or it became a member of the agreement and its business strategy was then immediately revealed to all its competitors by means of the information which they received.
Retten bemærker endvidere, at det klart fremgår af beslutningen, at de i sagen omtvistede forhold under visse omstændigheder på samme tid dels kan udgøre en overtrædelse, fra de pågældende virksomheders side, af traktatens artikel 85, og dels en tilsidesættelse af traktatens artikel 3, litra f), 5 og 85 fra den medlemsstats side, på hvis territorium de pågældende forhold forekommer, uden at de nationale myndigheders adfærd på nogen måde friuger de handlende for følgerne af deres tilsidesættelse af bestemmelserne i traktatens artikel 85, stk. 1.
In the present case, the Court found that it was clear from the Decision, that in certain circumstances the practices in question could at the same time amount to an infringement by the undertakings concerned of Article 85 of the Treaty and an infringement of Articles 3(f), 5 and 85 of the Treaty by the Member State on whose territory such practices occurred, without the conduct of the national authorities being in any event capable of exonerating the traders from the consequences of their infringement of Article 85(1) of the Treaty.
Det fremgår tillige af beslutningen, at denne udtrykkeligt undlader at tage stilling til, hvorvidt de omtvistede forhold er egnede til at udgøre en overtrædelse af de forpligtelser, der påhviler Det Forenede Kongeriges myndigheder i henhold til traktatens artikel 5.
Furthermore, it was apparent from the Decision that it expressly refrained from ruling on the question whether the practice in question was capable of constituting an infringement of the obligations which Article 5 of the Treaty placed on the United Kingdom authorities.
Det anbringende, hvorefter de omtvistede forhold ikke udgør en tilsidesættelse af traktatens artikel 5, kan således på ingen måde tiltrædes.
Consequently, the submission that the practice in question did not constitute an infringement of Article 5 of the Treaty must be dismissed in any event.
Sagsøgeren betaler sagens omkostninger.*
Orders the applicant to pay the costs.'
Sag T-32/93 Ladbroke Racing Limited / Kommissionen for De Europæiske Fællesskaber Konkurrence
Case T-32/93 Ladbroke Racing Limited ν Commission of the European CommunitiesCompetition
»EØF-traktatens artikel 90 —passivitetssøgsmål — afvisning* (Anden Afdeling) områder, som ¿eks. det marked for spil, som sagsøgeren er virksom på, og herved skal fastsætte de fornødne forskrifter til beskyttelse af spillerne og samfundsordenen under hensyntagen til hver enkelt medlemsstats socialt og kulturelt betingede særegenheder.
Treaty, was not coupled with an obligation on the part of the Commission to take action which may be relied on in seeking a declaration that the Commission had failed to act.
I nærværende sag, der er anlagt i medfør af traktatens artikel 175 med påstand om, at det fastslås, at Kommissionen under tilsidesættelse af traktatens bestemmelser havde undladt at tage stilling enten ved en begrundet beslutning, der kan anfægtes i henhold til traktatens artikel 173, eller ved en skrivelse af lignende karakter som den i artikel 6 i forordning nr. 99/63 omhandlede, til sagsøgerens klage af 24. november 1989, hvorved den opfordredes til over for Den Franske Republik at vedtage en beslutning i henhold til traktatens artikel 90, stk. 3.
reasoned decision open to challenge under Article 173 of the Treaty or by a letter similar in format to that provided for by Article 6 of Regulation No 99/63, on the applicant's complaint of 24 November 1989 requesting it to adopt a decision as against the French Republic based on Article 90(3) of the Treaty.
Der består følgelig ikke for Kommissionen i forbindelse med udøvelsen af skønnet i henhold til traktatens artikel 90, stk. 3, over foreneligheden af de statslige foranstaltninger med traktatens bestemmelser nogen forpligtelse til at gribe ind, der kan påberåbes til støtte for en påstand om, at Kommissionen har forholdt sig passiv.
Moreover, and even on the assumption that the Commission was obliged to adopt as against the French Republic a measure under Article 90(3) of the Treaty, that measure would be addressed only to that Member State. The applicant could not therefore claim to be in the precise position of the potential addressee of a legal measure which the Commission had a duty to adopt with regard to him, as required by Article 175(3) of the Treaty.
Retten skal indledningsvis bemærke, at passivitetssøgsmålet i henhold til traktatens artikel 175 forudsætter, at der for den pågældende institution består en forpligtelse til at handle, således at den påståede passivitet er traktatstridig.
The Court noted at the outset that it was a condition of an action for declaration of failure to act as instituted by Article 175 of the Treaty that the institution concerned should be under an obligation to act, so that the alleged failure to act was contrary to the Treaty.