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to voluntary or enforced sales following the cessation or changing of a commercial activity;

to products whose sale is of a marked seasonal nature, towards the end of the selling season and during the period between two selling seasons;

to products which are no longer in public demand owing to changes in fashion or to the appearance of technical improvements;

to products which are restocked or which could be restocked at a reduced level, the actual purchase price then being replaced by the price on the new invoice or by the value of the new stock;

to products whose resale price is aligned on the price lawfully charged for the same products by another trader in the same area of activity.’

B — Background to the dispute

2. According to the orders for reference, towards the end of 1989 officials of the French Directorate for Competition and the Prevention of Fraud drew up a report in which they found that litre bottles of ‘Picon Bière’ (21 % vol) and ‘Sati Rouge’ coffee were being sold at a loss at ‘Hypermarché CORA SA’ at Mundolsheim (France) and ‘Hypermarché Rond Point COOP’ at Geispolsheim (France) respectively.

3. On the basis of those reports the Procureur de la Republique (Public Prosecutor) brought a prosecution against each of the managers of the two hypermarkets on the grounds that, at Mundolsheim, from 3 November 1989 to 10 November 1989 they resold in an unaltered state 1 264 bottles of ‘Picon Bière’ at the unit price of FF 44.35, namely a unit price which was lower than the actual purchase price of FF 48.27, including taxes, when the limit fixed for resale at a loss was FF 46.222, and from 15 to 17 December 1989 at Geispolsheim resold 544 kg of ‘Sati Rouge’ coffee in an unaltered state at a price lower than the actual purchase price by selling batches of four 250 gramme packets at FF 20 when the actual purchase price per kilogramme was FF 25.132.

4. Before the Tribunal de Grande Instance, Strasbourg, the accused stated, in particular, that the prohibition of resale at a loss is:

— contrary to Article 30 of the EEC Treaty,

— liable, under certain conditions, to fall within the scope of Article 85 of that treaty,

— incompatible with the principles of the free movement of persons, services, and capital, establishment of free competition, of non-discrimination and more particularly with Articles 3 and 7 of the Treaty,

because, firstly, the prohibition makes only resale at a loss an offence and exempts from the scope of the prohibition the manufacturer, who is free to sell on the market the product which he manufactures, processes or improves and, secondly, it distorts competition, especially in a frontier zone, between traders on the basis of their nationality and place of establishment.

C — The preliminary questions

5. By the judgments of 27 June 1991 the Tribunal de Grande Instance decided to stay the proceedings and refer the following two identical questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:

‘Is the prohibition in France of resale at a loss under Article 32 of Order No 86-1243 of 1 December 1986 compatible with the principles of the free movement of goods, services and capital, free competition in the Common Market and non-discrimination on grounds of nationality laid down in the Treaty of 25 March 1957 establishing the EEC, and more particularly Articles 3 and 7 thereof, since the French leg本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。