The European Court of Justice has quashed a E3m fine imposed on Bayer AG by
the European Commission for trying to prevent parallel imports of Adalat (nifedipine)
to Britain from Spain and France (PJ, January 27, 1996, p121).
The court ruled recently that Brussels had failed to establish its case against
Bayer, because its action was based on competition law. To do so, the commission
would have had to have proved that there had been an agreement between Bayer
and wholesalers to restrict the imports. This had not been the case. Instead,
Bayer had limited Adalat sales to Spanish and French wholesalers to their national
requirements. This had led to complaints being made to the commission, which
had launched a competition case and fined Bayer.
Although the wholesalers still worked with Bayer, this was hardly an anti-
competitive agreement, particularly when it was the wholesalers’ complaints
that led to the legal action being launched, the court ruled.