Press Release: Advocate General’s Opinion in Joined Cases C-501/06 P and Others. GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited v Commission and Others

In the view of Advocate General Verica Trstenjak, a pharmaceutical undertaking which stipulates increased export prices in order to restrict parallel trade has as its object the restriction of competition. The Advocate General proposes that the Court of Justice should uphold the contested judgment of the Court of First Instance in so far as that judgment ultimately requires a fresh examination by the Commission as to whether the sales conditions, which restrict competition, are to be exempted on the basis of a possible contribution to the promotion of technical progress.