152The initiation, on 15 January 2008, of a sector inquiry on the basis of Article 17 of Regulation No 1/2003 the objective of which is, as is apparent, in essence, from paragraph 22 of the judgment under appeal, recital 12 of the decision at issue and recitals 3 to 5 of the decision of 15 January 2008 initiating an inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector, the examination of agreements concluded between pharmaceutical companies, such as settlement agreements in respect of disputes relating to process patents, in order to determine whether they infringe Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, constitutes, first, a factor of which manufacturers of generic medicines such as Zoetis and Xellia – which the General Court found, in paragraph 189 of the judgment under appeal, to be well-informed and seasoned operators in the pharmaceutical sector – could not be unaware and, second, a factor which should lead them to take precautions against the loss, due to the passage of time, of evidence that might prove to be useful to them in the context of subsequent administrative procedures or judicial proceedings.
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