Judgment_paragraph 90 · Guardian Industries Corp. and Guardian Europe Sàrl v European Commission (T-82/08)

90Furthermore, the applicants cannot rely on the case-law according to which it is the undertakings concerned that establish the geographic scope of the market, which may be either wider or more limited than the relevant geographic market, in so far as that case-law relates to the question of the need to define the geographically relevant market in order to apply Article 81 EC, a question which does not arise in the present case. According to that case-law, the obligation to define the market in a decision adopted pursuant to Article 81 EC is binding on the Commission only where, without such a definition, it is impossible to determine whether the agreement in question is capable of affecting trade between Member States and has the object or effect of preventing, restricting or distorting competition within the common market (Case T-62/98 Volkswagen v Commission [2000] ECR II-2707, paragraph 230; Case T-44/00 Mannesmannröhren-Werke v Commission [2004] ECR II-2223, paragraph 132; and Case T-38/02 Groupe Danone v Commission [2005] ECR II-4407, paragraph 99). In principle, if the actual object of an agreement is to restrict competition, it is not necessary to define the geographic markets in question precisely, provided that actual or potential competition on the territories concerned was necessarily restricted, whether or not those territories constitute markets in the strict sense (Mannesmannröhren-Werke v Commission, paragraph 132; see also, to that effect, Case T-348/94 Enso Española v Commission [1998] ECR II-1875, paragraph 232, and Case T-241/01 Scandinavian Airlines System v Commission [2005] ECR II-2917, paragraph 99). In order to establish the geographic scope of the infringement, which must be taken into account in order to assess the seriousness of the infringement, it is sufficient for the Commission to assess the greater or lesser extent of the market or markets concerned, without being required to define precisely the markets in question (Scandinavian Airlines System v Commission, paragraph 99).