ECLI:EU:T:2003:101

«(Competition – Concentrations – Admissibility – Commitments in the course of the first phase of examination – Serious doubts as to compatibility with the common market – Partial referral to national authorities)» Summary of the Judgment 1.. Competition – Concentrations – Investigation by the Commission – Adoption of a decision declaring a concentration compatible with the common market without initiating the Phase II procedure – Condition – Absence of serious doubts – Commitments entered into by the undertakings concerned likely to make the notified concentration compatible – Assessments of an economic nature – Margin of discretion – Review by the Court – Purpose – No manifest error of assessment (Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 6(1)) 2.. Procedure – Intervention – Plea in law not raised by the applicant – Inadmissible (EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 37, third and fourth paras; Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 116(3)) 3.. Procedure – Expedited procedure – Whether account to be taken of a plea first raised at the hearing – Infringement of the rights of the defence (Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Arts 76a and 116(4)) 4.. Competition – Concentrations – Assessment of compatibility with the common market – Commitments entered into by the undertakings concerned likely to make the notified concentration compatible – Requirement of compatibility with Article 81 EC – Commitment to grant trade-mark licences containing a clause requiring the licensee to concentrate sales on the territory of a Member State – Whether permissible (Art. 81(1) and (3) EC; Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 2(1)) 5.. Competition – Concentrations – Administrative procedure – Commitments entered into by the undertakings concerned – Modifications notified after the time-limit – Account taken by the Commission of the modified commitments in order to find the concentration compatible with the common market – Whether permissible – Conditions (Commission Regulation No 447/98, Art. 18(1); Commission Notice on remedies acceptable under Regulations No 4064/89 and No 447/98, para. 37) 6.. Actions for annulment – Natural or legal persons – Measures of direct and individual concern to them – Decision to refer the examination of a concentration to the competent national authorities – Third-party undertaking (Art. 230, fourth para., EC; Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 9(3)) 7.. Actions for annulment – Natural or legal persons – Measures of direct and individual concern to them – Decision to refer the examination of a concentration to the competent authorities of a Member State – Third-party undertaking (Art. 230, fourth para., EC: Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 9(3)) 8.. Competition – Concentrations – Investigation by the Commission – Referral of the examination of a concentration to the competent authorities of a Member State – Conditions – Review by the Court – Scope (Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 9(2)(a)) 9.. Competition – Concentrations – Investigation by the Commission – Decision to refer the examination of a concentration to the competent authorities of a Member State – Discretion of the Commission – Review by the Court – Limits (Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 9(3)) 10.. Competition – Concentrations – Investigation by the Commission – Decision to refer the examination of a concentration to the competent authorities of a Member State – Conditions – Risk of a fragmented assessment of a single transaction – Irrelevant (Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 9(2) and (3)) 11.. Competition – Concentrations – Referral of the examination of a concentration to the competent authorities of a Member State – Obligations imposed on those authorities – Limits (Art. 10 EC; Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 9) 12.. Competition – Concentrations – Referral of the examination of a concentration to the competent authorities of a Member State – Effects – Exclusive competence of the national authorities to rule on the concentration – Commission may not bind the national authorities as to their substantive findings (Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 9(2) and (3)) 13.. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Decision to refer the examination of a concentration to the competent authorities of a Member State (Art. 253 EC; Council Regulation No 4064/89, Art. 9(2)(a) and (3)) JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Third Chamber)3 April 2003 (1) ((Competition – Concentrations – Admissibility – Commitments in the course of the first phase of examination – Serious doubts as to compatibility with the common market – Partial referral to national authorities)) applicant, intervener, v defendant, interveners, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (Third Chamber), having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 9 October 2002, gives the following On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Third Chamber) Lenaerts Azizi Jaeger H. Jung K. Lenaerts Registrar President 1 – Language of the case: English.