Partial Upholding of the Administrative Court Appeals against the Decision of the Competition Commission on Book Price Fixing

Facts

In 1998, the Secretariat of the Competition Commission opened an investigation into price fixing for German-language books in Switzerland. The Competition Commission found that the "Collective Revers 1993 for the Sale of Price-Fixed Publishing Products in Switzerland" constitutes an unlawful competition agreement. The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels e.V. and the Swiss Booksellers' and Publishers' Association have filed administrative court appeals against this.

The Federal Court partially upholds the appeals and remands the case to the Competition Commission for re-evaluation in accordance with the considerations.

Considerations

The Federal Court examines whether the Collective Revers constitutes an unlawful competition agreement within the meaning of the Cartel Act. It concludes that the Collective Revers significantly impairs price competition, but does not necessarily eliminate competition as a whole. In addition to price, other competitive factors…