Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Competition ° Community rules ° Obligations of the Member States ° Free movement of goods ° National legislation which makes the opening of shops subject to a licence ° Licence issued by the mayor on the mandatory opinion of a municipal committee ° Compatibility ° Conditions

(EC Treaty, Arts 3(g), 5, 30, 85 and 86)

Summary

Articles 3(g), 5, 30, 85 and 86 of the Treaty must be interpreted as not precluding rules of a Member State which make the opening of new shops subject to the grant of a licence issued by the mayor on the mandatory opinion of a municipal committee, where the members of that committee appointed or nominated by traders' organizations to give expert advice are in the minority and its opinions must have regard to the public interest, and where the mayor, who holds the power of decision, is obliged to take into account public interest criteria laid down in a commercial development plan drawn up by the municipality.

Such legislation

° neither requires nor favours the adoption of agreements, decisions or concerted practices contrary to Article 85, nor does it reinforce their effects, or delegate to private operators responsibility for taking decisions affecting the economic sphere

° does not create either a dominant position for the various traders taken individually or a collective dominant position for all the traders established in a municipality, a salient feature of which would be that traders did not compete against one another

° makes no distinction according to the origin of the goods distributed by the businesses concerned, nor is its purpose to regulate trade in goods with other Member States, and the restrictive effects which it might have on the free movement of goods are too uncertain and indirect for the obligation which it imposes to be regarded as being capable of hindering trade between Member States.