A Belgian Court makes preliminary reference to the ECJ regarding compatibility of Belgian procedural rules with EC regulation 1/2003 (VEBIC)

Introduction On 30 September 2008, the Brussels Court of Appeal made a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) relating to the compatibility of the Belgian procedural rules governing appeal cases with EC Regulation (EC) n° 1/2003 [1] on the implementation of the rules on competition law laid down in Articles 81 and 82 EC. The appeal was made against a decision of 25 January 2008 of the Belgian Competition Council fining the Belgian trade association “VEBIC” (Federatie van Verenigingen van Brood- en Banketbakkers, IJsbereiders en Chocoladebewerkers VZW) for distributing price recommendations in breach of the Belgian Competition Act “BCA” [2]. Background After the liberalization of bread prices in July 2004, VEBIC started to monitor the cost price of bread on the