The EU Court of Justice states that since the Commission has sole jurisdiction to find an infringement of competition law based on the ECSC Treaty, the national courts may not entertain an action for damages in the absence of a Commission decision (Banks / British Coal)

Case C-128/92 H. J. Banks & Co. Ltd v British Coal Corporation* 1. Given that both the extraction of unworked coal and the undertakings engaged in production in the coal industry fall within the scope of the ECSC Treaty, the provisions of that Treaty, in particular Article 4(d) prohibiting restrictive practices which tend towards the sharing or