COMPETITION • FRENCH LAW • RESTRICTIVE PRACTICES
Under Article L. 442-4 (former Article L. 442-6, III) of the Commercial Code, the Minister of the Economy may ask the court seized of the matter to issue and injunction for the cessation of the abuses of dependence covered by Articles L. 442-1, L. 442-2, L. 442-3, L. 442-7 and L. 442-8. This provision was left aside for a long time in favor of the action for annulment, but it was revived when the Constitutional Council established the principle that the admissibility of applications for annulment was subject to the provision of prior information to suppliers. Excluded from this requirement, actions for injunctions do not infringe the rights of the defense as long as they do not prohibit the victims of the practices in question from bringing proceedings or intervening in proceedings and the balance between the parties is ensured by such actions being subject to the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure. Moreover, since the Minister does not intervene in the contractual sphere, there is no obligation to respect any jurisdiction clauses in the contracts complained of.
Since the Ordinance of 24 April 2019, this option is also available to any person who can demonstrate standing.
