The EU Court of Justice states that the exemption granted by the regulation does not apply to a clause in a contract that, unless there are objectively valid reasons, prevents the dealer from selling new vehicles (Cabour)

Case C-230/96 Cabour SA and Nord Distribution Automobile SA v Arnor 'SOCO' SARL* 1. Under the preliminary ruling procedure provided for by Article 177 of the Treaty, it is for the national courts alone, before which the proceedings are pending and which must assume responsibility for the judgment to be given, to determine, having regard to the particular features of each case, both the need for a preliminary ruling to enable them to give judgment and the relevance of the questions