Effects Of Final Judgments On Competition Law

In 2001 and 2009, Repsol was sanctioned by the Competition Defense Court and the National Competition Commission (now the CNMC), respectively, for fixing the retail prices of fuel within the framework of its contractual relations with numerous Spanish service stations.

Based on these sanctions, the owners of one of the service stations that had entered into exclusive supply contracts with Repsol brought legal action for the damages allegedly caused by those contracts. Specifically, the plaintiffs brought (i) an action for nullity of the contracts entered into with Repsol for having fixed the retail price of the fuels in question; and (ii) an action for damages.

Madrid Commercial Court No. 2, which was hearing the case, referred two questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") for a preliminary ruling, which were recently resolved in its judgment dated April 20, 2023 (Case C-25/21).