The EU Court of Justice states that French legislation requiring retailers of books to comply with minimum resale prices imposed by publishers infringes the Treaty as it deprives the competition rules of their effectiveness (Leclerc)

Case 229/83 Association des Centres distributeurs Édouard Leclerc and Others v Sàrl 'Au blé verť and Others 'Fixed prices for books'* 1. Whilst it is true that the rules on competition set out in Article 85 (1) of the EEC Treaty are concerned with the conduct of undertakings and not with national legislation, Member States are none the less obliged under the second paragraph of Article 5 of the Treaty not to detract, by means of national