A carmaker set up a compensation system for its Dutch dealers that involved awarding them a bonus for every sale of a car registered in the Netherlands, but only if the dealer had surpassed his contractual objective, and put pressure on its dealers to deter them from exporting cars, particularly by threatening to decrease deliveries of the most exported models.
The European Court of First Instance has imposed a fine of €44.55 million on the carmaker, having found that its practices were aimed at restraining the parallel exportation of its cars from the Netherlands to other Member States, in violation of Article 81§1 of the EC Treaty.
Didier FERRIER, Agency, distribution & franchising Country Expert for France.
The text of the judgement, together with other interesting judgements of the European Court of Justice and of the Tribunal of First Instance can be found in the database of the EC Judgements and Decisions (in the EU Section of the IDI website).
