𝐘𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐂-𝟓𝟖𝟏/𝟐𝟑).

Our competition partner Herlinde Burez and commercial partner Milena Varga represented Albert Heijn before the Court against Beevers Kaas, exclusive importer of Beemster cheese in Belgium. In this case, Albert Heijn claimed that Beevers Kaas can only be protected against active sales of Albert Heijn if and when the parallel imposition requirement is fulfilled. Put differently: as long as the supplier of the Beemster cheese has not agreed an active sales restriction with each and every of its resellers in the EU, Albert Heijn cannot be prevented from actively selling Beemster cheese in Belgium.

The Court ruled that an agreement on an active sales restriction cannot be inferred from the simple finding that no other reseller is currently actively selling Beemster cheese in Belgium. The supplier must first demonstrate that it has invited the resellers to comply with an active sales restriction, and secondly, that the resellers have agreed to this invitation. Proof of both elements must be provided by the supplier based on objective and consistent evidence.

The Court thus agreed with Albert Heijn’s position.

For a more detailed read on this interesting judgment as well as the opinion of the Advocate-General, click here.

𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬? Milena Varga and Herlinde Burez are happy to help!

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