Competition: Advocate General delivers an opinion on the application of Article 82 EC to refusal to meet orders in order to limit parallel trade
- Greece
- 04/10/2008
- Roschier, Attorneys Ltd. - Finland
Advocate General Ruiz-Jarabo (“AG”) considers in a non-binding opinion delivered to the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) that GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) abused its dominant position by refusing to meet the orders of Greek pharmaceutical wholesalers in order to limit parallel trade. A Greek national court referred the case to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling after complaints were lodged by Greek pharmaceutical wholesalers against GSK, when it changed its distribution system in 2000, no longer meeting orders from wholesalers. According to the wholesalers, GSK’s conduct limited their possibilities of supplying markets other than Greece. The AG considers that GSK’s conduct amounts to abuse of dominant position in violation of Article 82 EC. According to the AG, such conduct could, however, be objectively justified if the company were to show that it was compelled to adopt such conduct due to State intervention concerning price regulation and the duty to supply, that such conduct was intended to protect the company’s legitimate commercial interests and that such conduct creates efficiency benefits. However, in this case the AG found that GSK failed to present grounds which would objectively justify its conduct.
Source: European Court of Justice Press Release 01/04/2008.
