95/188/EC: Commission Decision of 30 January 1995 relating to a proceeding under Article 85 of the EC Treaty (IV/33.686 - Coapi) (Only the Spanish text is authentic)

• Articles: 4

Article 1

The following constitute infringements of Article 85 (1) of the EC Treaty:

(a) Articles 48 and 49 of the Regulations of the Colegio Oficial de Agentes de la Propiedad Industrial (the Coapi); and (b) the decisions of the Coapi adopted since 1987 concerning the annual establishment of minimum scales of charges applicable to clients resident in Spain, to the extent that these concern services relating to applications for the grant or renewal of industrial property rights abroad, as well as minimum scales of charges applicable to clients resident abroad.

Article 2

The Coapi shall take all the steps necessary to bring the infringements mentioned in Article 1 to an end forthwith and to abstain in future from adopting measures having the same object or effect.

Article 3

The Coapi shall inform its members in writing of the content of this Decision and that is has terminated the infringements referred to in Article 1, specifying the practical consequences which flow therefrom, in particular the freedom of the individual members to establish their own scales of charges.

The Coapi shall, within two months of notification of this Decision, communicate to the Commission the information transmitted to its members pursuant to the foregoing paragraph.

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to:

Colegio Oficial de Agentes de la Propiedad Industrial (Coapi) calle Montera 13 E-28013 Madrid.

Done at Brussels, 30 January 1995.

For the Commission Karel VAN MIERT Member of the Commission

(1) These are services involving relations with the Spanish Patents and Trade Marks Office.

(*) Deleted as a business secret.

(1) The Tribunal de Defensa de la Competencia (Court for the Protection of Competition) has nevertheless ruled in its decisions of 20 November 1992 and 30 December 1993 that 'professional associations` do not consitute public service bodies and their acts are not administrative acts. The Court considers that such associations constitute corporations covering certain industries or professions whose basis and establishment are strictly private; it adds that this status is recognized in the settled case-law of both the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court.

(1) OJ No L 19, 24. 1. 1989, p. 16.

(2) [1991] ECR I-1979, paragraph 21.

(1) [1985] ECR 391, paragraph 22.

(1) [1988] ECR 1919, paragraph 17.

(2) OJ No L 379, 31. 12. 1982, p. 1, paragraph 69.

(1) [1984] ECR 19, paragraph 37.

(2) [1985] ECR 391, paragraph 17.

(3) [1977] ECR 2115, paragraphs 30 to 34.

(1) [1985] ECR 880, paragraph 17.