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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions) >> Oscar Bronner (Competition) [1998] EUECJ C-7/97 (26 November 1998) URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/EUECJ/1998/C797.html Cite as: Case C-7/97, EU:C:1998:569, ECLI:EU:C:1998:569, [1998] EUECJ C-7/97, [1998] ECR I-7791 |
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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Sixth Chamber)
26 November 1998 (1)
(Article 86 of the EC Treaty - Abuse of a dominant position - Refusal of a media undertaking holding a dominant position in the territory of a Member State to include a rival daily newspaper of another undertaking in the same Member State in its newspaper home-delivery scheme)
In Case C-7/97,
REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EC Treaty by the Oberlandesgericht Wien (Austria) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
Oscar Bronner GmbH & Co. KG
and
Mediaprint Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH & Co. KG,
Mediaprint Zeitungsvertriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG,
Mediaprint Anzeigengesellschaft mbH & Co. KG,
on the interpretation of Article 86 of the EC Treaty,
THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),
composed of: P.J.G. Kapteyn, President of the Chamber, J.L. Murray, H. Ragnemalm, R. Schintgen (Rapporteur) and K.M. Ioannou, Judges,
Advocate General: F.G. Jacobs,
Registrar: H.A. Rühl, Principal Administrator,
after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:
- Oscar Bronner GmbH & Co. KG, by Christa Fries, Rechtsanwältin, Baden,
- Mediaprint Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Mediaprint Zeitungsvertriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and Mediaprint Anzeigengesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, by Stephan Ruggenthaler, Rechtsanwalt, Vienna,
- the Commission of the European Communities, by Klaus Wiedner and Wouter Wils, of its Legal Service, acting as Agents,
having regard to the Report for the Hearing,
after hearing the oral observations of Oscar Bronner GmbH & Co. KG, Mediaprint Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Mediaprint Zeitungsvertriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Mediaprint Anzeigengesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and the Commission at the hearing on 10 February 1998,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 28 May 1998,
gives the following
collectively referred to as 'Mediaprint') under Paragraph 35 of the Bundesgesetz über Kartelle und andere Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (Federal Law on Cartels and other Restrictive Practices; 'the Kartellgesetz') of 19 October 1988 (BGBl. 1988, p. 600), as amended in 1993 (BGBl. 1993, p. 693) and 1995 (BGBl. 1995, p. 520).
'The Kartellgericht shall, upon application, order the undertakings concerned to bring the abuse of a dominant position to an end. Such abuse may consist, in particular, of:
1. directly or indirectly imposing unfair purchase or selling prices or other trading conditions;
2. limiting production, markets or technical development to the detriment of consumers;
3. placing other trading parties at a competitive disadvantage by applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions;
4. making the conclusion of contracts subject to the acceptance by other trading parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject-matter of such contracts.'
Zeitungsvertriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. The scheme consists of delivering the newspapers directly to subscribers in the early hours of the morning.
'(1) Is Article 86 of the EC Treaty to be interpreted in such a way that there is an abuse of a dominant position, in the sense of an abusive barring of access to the market, where an undertaking which carries on the publication, production and marketing of daily newspapers, and with its products occupies a predominant position on the Austrian market for daily
newspapers (46.8% of total circulation, 42% of advertising revenue and 71% range of influence, measured by the number of all daily newspapers), and operates the only nationwide home-delivery distribution service for subscribers, refuses to make a binding offer to another undertaking engaged in the publication, production and marketing of a daily newspaper in Austria to include that daily newspaper in its home-delivery scheme, in the light also of the circumstance that it is not possible, on account of the small circulation and the consequently small number of subscribers, for the undertaking seeking inclusion in the home-delivery scheme to build up its own home-delivery scheme for a reasonable cost outlay and operate it profitably, either alone or in cooperation with the other undertakings offering daily newspapers on the market?
(2) Does it amount to an abuse within the meaning of Article 86 of the EC Treaty, where, under the circumstances described at (1) above, the operator of the home-delivery scheme for daily newspapers makes the entry into business relations with the publisher of a competing product dependent upon the latter entrusting him not only with home deliveries but also with other services (e.g. marketing through sales points, printing) within the context of an overall package?'
Admissibility
to the subject-matter of the main action, so that there is no need to reply to the questions.
Giry and Guerlain [1980] ECR 2327, paragraph 15; Case C-67/91 Dirección General de Defensa de la Competencia v Asociación EspaÄnola de Banca Privada [1992] ECR I-4785, paragraph 11).
The first question
wording of subparagraph (c) of that provision, in applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties. The Commission does not, however, consider that to be the case in the main proceedings, since the service sought by Oscar Bronner was not made subject to conditions other than those applicable to other trading parties, but was not offered at all if other services were not entrusted to Mediaprint at the same time.
indicates that the territory of a Member State over which a dominant position extends is capable of constituting a substantial part of the common market (see, to that effect, Case 322/81 Michelin v Commission [1983] ECR 3461, paragraph 28; Case C-323/93 Centre d'Insémination de la Crespelle [1994] ECR I-5077, paragraph 17).
competition in the daily newspaper market on the part of the person requesting the service and that such refusal be incapable of being objectively justified, but also that the service in itself be indispensable to carrying on that person's business, inasmuch as there is no actual or potential substitute in existence for that home-delivery scheme.
The second question
Costs
50. The costs incurred by the Commission, which has submitted observations to the Court, are not recoverable. Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the proceedings pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court.
On those grounds,
THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),
in answer to the questions referred to it by the Oberlandesgericht Wien by order of 1 July 1996, hereby rules:
The refusal by a press undertaking which holds a very large share of the daily newspaper market in a Member State and operates the only nationwide newspaper home-delivery scheme in that Member State to allow the publisher of a rival newspaper, which by reason of its small circulation is unable either alone or in cooperation with other publishers to set up and operate its own home-delivery scheme in economically reasonable conditions, to have access to that scheme for appropriate remuneration does not constitute the abuse of a dominant position within the meaning of Article 86 of the EC Treaty.
Kapteyn Murray
Ragnemalm Schintgen Ioannou
|
Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 26 November 1998.
R. Grass P.J.G. Kapteyn
Registrar President of the Sixth Chamber
1: Language of the case: German.