Acf Chemiefarma Nv V Commission (The 'Quinine Cartel') [1970]

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  • Created by: channyx
  • Created on: 21-03-20 17:09

The applicant complains that the Commission considered that the export agreement relating to trade with third countries and the gentlemen's agreement governing the conduct of its members in the Common Market constituted an indivisible entity as far as Article 85 [now Article 101 TFEU] was concerned.

The applicant states that the gentlemen's agreement, unlike the export agreement, did not constitute an agreement within the meaning of Article 85(1) and in any event it definitively ceased to exist from the end of October 1962.

The conduct of the parties to the export agreement does not in the applicant's view indicate that they continued the restrictions on competition which were originally provided for in the gentlemen's agreement.

The opposite conclusions reached by the contested decision are therefore alleged to be vitiated because they are based on incorrect findings.

The gentlemen's agreement, which the applicant admits existed until the end of October 1962, had as its object the restriction of competition within the Common Market.

The parties to the export agreement mutually declared themselves willing to abide by the gentlemen's agreement and concede that they did so until the end of October 1962.

This document thus amounted to the faithful expression of the joint intention of the parties to the agreement with regard to their conduct in the Common Market.

Furthermore it contained a provision to the effect that infringement of the gentlemen's agreement would ipso facto constitute an infringement of the export agreement.

In those circumstances account must be taken of this…

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