The advocate-general of the European Court of Justice Nils Wahl advanced the case Thursday which will decide how far farmers can go in setting prices for Endives. In his opinion agricultural producer groups should not be allowed to set minimum prices, despite some leeway granted to farmers under EU competition rules.
The case hinges on a cartel among agricultural producer groups in northern France who grow the teardrop-shaped “Belgian endives."
In 2012, French competition authorities fined several endive producer organizations and associations almost €4 million for fixing prices with a highly sophisticated, computerized real-time price-sharing platform.
This is not the final ruling in the case, but the advocate-general’s opinion is an important guide to the way that the ECJ will rule.
source: politico.eu
