European Competition Law provides a wide-ranging review of the European rules relating to competition: restrictive agreements, abuse of a dominant position, impact of intellectual property rights, procedure, merger control, State aid.

European Competition Law

Natural or legal persons who can show a legitimate interest and Member States are entitled to lodge a complaint by virtue of Article 7 of Regulation No 1/2003 .
The legitimate interest requirement only concerns natural or legal persons. In effect, Member States are said to have a legitimate interest for all complaints as soon as they decide to file. Their interest merges with that of the Union whi …

Legitimate interest

Natural or legal persons who can show a legitimate interest and Member States are entitled to lodge a complaint by virtue of Article 7 of Regulation No 1/2003 .

The legitimate interest requirement only concerns natural or legal persons. In effect, Member States are said to have a legitimate interest for all complaints as soon as they decide to file. Their interest merges with that of the Union which has assigned to the Commission the task of ensuring the application of the principle laid down in Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.

Individuals or legal persons considering themselves to be the victims of a violation will meet the necessary requirements to file a complaint where the practice complained of constitutes a threat to their interests or affects their business on the market concerned . It is irrelevant that the complainant is a competitor or whether it operates at the same level in the economic process as the undertaking at issue if its interests are adversely affected due to the alleged infringement . It is not necessary that the interest be direct; professional organizations acting in the context of their statutory object are entitled to file a complaint . An association of undertakings also effectively has a legitimate interest to file a complaint even though it may not be directly concerned by the conduct complained of, where such conduct may harm the interest of its members and it is entitled to represent them . In practice, once the behavior has been brought to the attention of the Commission, the legitimate interest aspect is of less importance since the Commission is entitled to initiate proceedings of its own motion .

Where a natural or legal person fails to fulfill the conditions to file a complaint, the Notice on the handling of complaints gives them the opportunity to provide information on the market to the Commission  which can then, if it deems it necessary, launch an investigation into that market.

Article 7 of Regulation No 1/2003 reproduces in substance the provision of Article 3 of Regulation No 17.

See EC Regulation No 773/2004 of 7 April 2004, relating to the conduct of proceedings by the Commission pursuant to Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty [now 101 and 102 TFEU], which reiterates the necessity for the complainant to justify the existence of its legitimate interest.

See Case 56/64 and 58/64 Consten v Commission EEC [1966] ECR 556, LawLex200400002598JBJ: admissibility of the complaint by a competitor and victim of exclusive representation agreements; Case T-213/01 Österreichische Postsparkasse v Commission [2006] ECR II-1601, LawLex200700000254JBJ: the condition of harm or likely harm to the economic interests of customers of banking services due to the restriction of competition which would result from an agreement between national banks is sufficient to confer on the operator a legitimate interest in bringing a complaint.

See for an example, Case T-37/92 BEUC and NCC v Commission [1994] ECR II-285, LawLex200500004005JBJ.

See Case T-114/92 BEMIM v Commission [1995] ECR II-147, LawLex200500005238JBJ.

See Case 32/78 BMW Belgium v Commission [1979] ECR 2435, LawLex200500004092JBJ.

See Commission Notice No 2004/C 101/05 of 27 April 2004, at pt 4.

Under Regulation No 1/2003 the national authorities and courts have parallel competence with the Commission to apply EU law. The complainant may therefore bring his complaint either to a national court, a competition authority or the Commission. The Commission Notice on the handling of complaints is there to assist the complainant in his choice .

The complainant might have an interest in filing an action with a national court if he seeks damages in respect of injury suffered or the payment or performance of contractual obligations based on an agreement assessed under Article 101, or the voiding of an agreement under Article 101(2) TFEU. In general the national courts are the better placed to order interim measures than the Commission. Such application can be made based on both national and EU law and the court can order the party in default to pay costs.

EU law must be applied by a well placed authority. When it comes to hearing a complaint, three cumulative conditions must be fulfilled for an authority be considered well placed:

- the agreement or practice has substantial direct actual or foreseeable effects on competition within its territory, is implemented within or originates from its territory;

- the authority can adopt a cease-and-desist order the effect of which will be sufficient to bring an end to the infringement and it can, where appropriate, sanction the infringement adequately;

- the authority can gather, possibly with the assistance of other authorities, the evidence required to prove the infringement.

A material link between the infringement and the territory of a Member State must exist in order for that Member State's competition authority to be considered well placed. Parallel action by two or three NCAs may be appropriate where an agreement or practice has substantial effects on competition mainly in their respective territories and the action of only one NCA would not be sufficient to bring the entire infringement to an end and/or to sanction it adequately.

Like the NCAs, the Commission must be well placed to deal with the complaint. This would be the case if one or several agreement(s) or practice(s), including networks of similar agreements or practices, have effects on competition in more than three Member States, where it is closely linked to other EU provisions which may be exclusively or more effectively applied by the Commission, or if the EU interest requires the adoption of a Commission decision to develop EU competition policy.

See Commission Notice No 2004/C 101/05 of 27 April 2004, at pt 7.

European Competition Law

186. Legitimate interest

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186. Legitimate interest

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Sous parties

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise