ECJ Ruling On Refusing Entry To Selective Distribution System

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has issued a ruling confirming that an automotive dealer may refuse dealers entry to its quantitative selective distribution system without publishing its entry criteria, nor need such criteria be objective or implemented in a non-discriminatory manner, although the precise content of such criteria must be verifiable. Whilst the decision concerns a specific case in the context of the EU Motor Vehicle Block Exemption (MVBE), the case is of relevance to all selective distribution systems. The principal feature of any selective distribution system is that distributors are selected on the basis of 'specified criteria'. Competition law distinguishes between selective distribution systems that are either quantitiative (based on criteria which directly limit the number of distributors) or qualitative (based on purely qualitative criteria which are laid down uniformly for all distributors, applied in a non-discriminatory manner, and do not directly limit...