The EU Director General for Competition states that restrictions of competition by object constitute serious, but not always manifest violations of law

The Unintended Consequences of the Case Law on Restrictions by Object* On second thoughts, the recent bad case law on the notion of “restriction by object” may incidentally, and unexpectedly, fetter the margins of the Commission, and in particular its ability to handle all cases under the obese Article 9 procedure. As hinted recently by DG Italianer in a most interesting speech, cases such as Irish Beef