Memo: Competition: Commission welcomes Court of First Instance judgment in the French Beef case

The European Commission welcomes the 13 December 2006 judgment by the European Court of First Instance dismissing the action by four French federations of farmers and one French federation of slaughterers against the Commission's April 2003 decision fining a price agreement and an agreement to suspend/limit imports from other Member States (cases T-217/03 and T-245/03). The CFI notably confirms the application of EC Treaty competition rules in the agricultural sector and that such federations may infringe competition rules when they enter into business activities. It however reduces the fines imposed in order to reflect the specific economic context in which the agreement was adopted.