Europa 1. Procedure – preliminary ruling – jurisdiction of the court of justice – limits (EEC treaty, article 177) 2. Policy of the EEC – rules on competition between undertakings – agreements which may affect trade between member state – concept (EEC treaty, article 85) 3. Policy of the EEC – rules on competition between undertakings – exclusive dealing arrangements with absolute territorial protection – prohibition – possibility of avoiding such prohibition by reason of the weak position of the parties concerned on the market in the products in question (EEC treaty, article 85). 1. The court is not entitled within the framework of article 177 to apply the treaty to a particular case. It may however derive from the wording of the decision referring the matter the questions which relate exclusively to the interpretation of the treaty. 2. If an agreement is to be capable of affecting trade between member states it must be possible to foresee with a sufficient degree of probability on the basis of a set of objective factors of law or of fact that the agreement in question may have an influence, direct or indirect, actual or potential, on the pattern of trade between member states, in such a way that it might hinder the realization of the objectives of a single market between states. 3. An exclusive dealing agreement, even with absolute territorial protection, may, having regard to the weak position of the persons concerned on the market in the products in question in the area covered by the absolute protection, escape the prohibition laid down in article 85(1).
Citations:
C-5/69
European
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.131989