161As regards RBS’s criticism, summarised in paragraph 128 of that judgment, that, in assessing whether a decision has a restrictive effect on competition, the Commission should have considered what the actual ‘counterfactual hypothesis’ would have been in the absence of the MIF, it should be noted that the Court of Justice has repeatedly held that in order to determine whether an agreement is to be considered to be prohibited by reason of the distortion of competition which is its effect, the competition in question should be assessed within the actual context in which it would occur in the absence of the agreement in dispute (see judgments in LTM, 56/65, EU:C:1966:38, 250; Béguelin Import, 22/71, EU:C:1971:113, paragraphs 16 and 17; Lancôme and Cosparfrance Nederland, 99/79, EU:C:1980:193, paragraph 26; L’Oréal, 31/80, EU:C:1980:289, paragraph 19; ETA Fabriques d’Ébauches, 31/85, EU:C:1985:494, paragraph 11; Bagnasco and Others, C‑215/96 and C‑216/96, EU:C:1999:12, paragraph 33 and the case-law cited; and also General Motors v Commission, EU:C:2006:229, paragraph 72). As the General Court rightly held, in paragraph 128 of the judgment under appeal, the same applies in the case of a decision of an association of undertakings within the meaning of Article 81 EC.
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