The ECJ’s Ruling on Bayer/Adalat

On 6 January 2004 the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") dismissed the appeal by the European Commission¹ and others against the Court of First Instance’s ("CFI") decision² to annul the Commission’s Bayer/Adalat decision.³

The Bayer Group, one of the main European chemical and pharmaceutical groups, is represented in all Member States by national subsidiaries. It produces and markets, amongst other things, a range of medicinal products designed to treat cardio-vascular illnesses under the brand name "Adalat" or "Adalate."

In most Member States, the price of medicinal products is fixed, directly or indirectly, by the competent national authorities. From 1989 to 1993, the prices of Adalat in France and Spain were much lower than those charged in the United Kingdom. Those price differences of about 40% led Spanish wholesalers (from 1989) and French wholesalers (from 1991) to export a large quantity of that medicinal product to the United Kingdom.