Abstract
Not only companies but also corporate associations are legally obliged by competition law, according to the ECJ decision of 14 November 2017 (ruling C-671/15, ECLI:EU:C:2017:860 – APVE et al.) regarding the agricultural sector. When it comes to regulations concerning technical developments, problems arise regularly in the sense that large corporations come together in working groups and force their rules through, while smaller companies have great difficulties in getting their ideas to take effect. Business organisations are also not allowed to cooperate indefinitely with one another. Agreements on prices and quantities made between several agricultural producer organisations or associations can, according to the ECJ, constitute a cartel within the meaning of competition law. If such agreements are made within the same organisation, this is, at best, in conformity with the competition if they serve the goals with which the organisation or association is entrusted and if they are proportionate. However, this concerned the special objectives of agricultural policy, for the implementation of which associations can be duly recognised by the state.
The elaborate summary is a written version of the discourse held by the author at the Deutscher Anwaltstag in Mannheim on 8 June 2018, published in NJOZ (2018), p. 1321. See also energy related articles in N&R (2017), p. 258 and N&R (2018), p. 139.
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Notes
- 1.
Factual measures can also be recorded, ECJ, ruling C-209/78 et al., ECLI:EU:C:1980:248, Paragraph 88 – van Landewyck; on corporate agreements, e.g. on institutional standardisation, differentiating from Jakobs (2012), p. 58.
- 2.
See for example KOME 89/512/EEC, OJ 1989 L 253, p. 1, Paragraph 46 – Dutch banks; 90/25/EEC, OJ 1990 L 15, p. 25, Paragraph 16 et seq. – Concordato Incendio; 93/3/EEC, OJ 1993 L 4, p. 26, Paragraph 16 et seq. – Lloyd’s Underwriters.
- 3.
Regarding intellectual property cases ECJ, T-201/04, ECLI:EU:T:2007:289, Paragraph 334 – Microsoft I as well as Case T-167/08, ECLI:EU:T:2012:323, Paragraph 139 – Microsoft II and in this the citated ECJ ruling Case C-418/01, ECLI:EU:C:2004:257, Paragraph 28 et seq. – IMS Health; See more in the previous Paragraph 26 by Frenz.
- 4.
Directive 2014/104/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 November 2014 on certain rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union, OJ 2014 L 349, p. 1.
- 5.
ECJ, ruling C-184/13 and others, ECLI:EU:C:2014:214, Paragraph 28 - API; already ECJ, ruling 13/77, ECLI:EU:C:1977:185, Paragraph 30 and 35 – Inno/ATAB; for example, also ECJ, ruling C-94 and 202/04, ECLI:EU:C:2006:758, Paragraph 46 – Cipolla.
- 6.
ECJ, ruling C-184/13 et al., ECLI:EU:C:2014:214, Paragraph 29 – API; Rose and Bailey (2013), Paragraph 11.031; with three categories GA Léger, Opinion v. 07/10/2001 – C-35/99, ECLI:EU:C:2002:97, Paragraph 37 – Arduino.
- 7.
ECJ, ruling C-51/93, ECLI:EU:C:1994:312, recital 11 – Meyhui; already ECJ, ruling 41/84, ECLI:EU:C:1986:1, Paragraph 24 – Pinna; ECJ, ruling 20/85, ECLI:EU:C:1988:283 Paragraph 17 – Roviello.
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Frenz, W. (2022). Standard Setting by Associations. In: Frenz, W. (eds) Handbook Industry 4.0. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-64448-5_15
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