Recent Developments in the EEC-Antitrust and the Court of Justice

Abstract

The EEC Treaty forbids agreements and concerted practices affecting commerce between Member States that have as their object or consequence a restriction of competition within the Common Market (Art. 85). It also prohibits abuse of a dominant position within the Common Market or a substantial part thereof that affects commerce between Member States (Art. 86). On the basis of these provisions and a number of implementing measures, of which Regulation No. 17/62 is the most important, the Common Market has been and is developing an encompassing antitrust regime. While both the Commission and the Court of Justice have played leading roles in shaping European antitrust law, the Court of Justice, as the supreme judicial body in the Common Market, has put its distinctive stamp on this law. The circumstance that questions of European antitrust law can reach the Court of Justice both on a reference by national tribunals pursuant to Art. 177 and on appeal from a decision by the Commission pursuant to Art. 172 and 173 has no doubt helped in giving the Court a significant role in antitrust matters.