The Strasbourg Civil Court assesses the validity of a beer supply agreement in light of EC Regulations on vertical agreements (Kronenbourg)

Background On 16 March 1994, Mr. Besseyre who ran a coffee shop in Angers (central France) entered into a beer supply agreement with Kronenbourg under which he would exclusively purchase all of his beer requirements from Kronenbourg for a ten year period. In February 2002, Mr. Besseyre sold his business to JBEG SARL (JBEG). Under the purchase agreement's provisions JBEG would continue to buy all its beer from Kronenbourg. However, following signature of the agreement, JBEG stopped purchasing its beer from Kronenbourg which in turn sought judicial termination of the agreement as well as civil damages before the Strasbourg Court (the Court) on 24 July 2002. JBEG for its part requested