Pharmaceutical products: The CFI annuls the European Commission decision rejecting a request for a negative clearance and exemption for a dual pricing system based on the destination of pharmaceutical products (GlaxoSmithKline Services)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. – IFC, 27 September 2006, GlaxoSmithKline Services, Case T-168/01 The debate: restriction by object or effect Since the end of the nineties and in particular since the adoption of Regulation 2790/1999 on vertical restraints, the Commission has been advocating a more economic analysis of contractual restrictions. The fact that a contractual provision limits the freedom of commercial action between the parties does not necessarily give rise to a restriction of competition within the meaning of Article 81(1) EC. A contractual restriction falls within the scope of that prohibition only if it appreciably restricts competition. According to the 2001 Notice on