The Brussels Court of Appeal rules that a non-compete clause does not qualify as an anticompetitive agreement under Article 81 EC but constitutes an abuse of a dominant position based on Article 82 EC (WEX / FEBIAC)

Background FEBIAC, a Belgian federation of road transport vehicle manufacturers, organises road transport fairs for commercial vehicles in Brussels every other year. The 2005 fair would run from 14 to 23 January 2005. FEBIAC's general conditions for participating at the 2005 fair contained a clause prohibiting participants of this fair from participating in any other similar fair held in Belgium between the period commencing six-months prior to the commencement of the FEBIAC fair and the end of the FEBIAC fair (the “non-compete clause”). The general conditions contained no derogation to this provision. WEX, a Belgian company, decided to organise together with the Union Professionnelle des Transportateurs Routiers (a professional association for professional transporters) a transport