The EU Court of Justice confirms that quantity discounts linked solely to the volume of purchases may be permissible subject to the condition that the rule for calculating these discounts are not discriminatory (Portuguese Republic)

Case C-163/99 Portuguese Republic v Commission of the European Communities * 1. Under Article 90(3) of the Treaty (now Article 86(3) EC) the Commission is empowered to determine that a given State measure concerning one of the type of undertakings referred to in Article 90(1) is incompatible with the rules of the Treaty and to indicate what measures the State to which a decision is addressed must adopt in order to comply with its obligations under Community law. The possibility that rules containing provisions which impinge upon the specific sphere of Article 90 of the Treaty might be laid down by the Council by virtue of its general power under other articles of the Treaty does not preclude the exercise of the power which Article 90 confers on the Commission. Moreover, in the