The arrangements that were brought to the examination of the Competition Commissioner in the framework of the exemption requests were vertical arrangements between IBM and its suppliers. Naturally, they were examined in accordance with the appropriate criteria and rules for examining such arrangements. The exemption was granted after it was found that the vertical restriction, including the special mechanism by hand, while limiting the maximum price to the customer, has in the totality of the circumstances a pro-competitive justification for an investment incentive. Therefore, it was found that the arrangements do not raise a concern of real harm to competition, and that in view of the legitimate purpose, these are not arrangements whose main purpose is to reduce or prevent competition, i.e., we are not dealing with "naked shackles".
However, and this is the main point, the exemptions that were granted do not permit horizontal adjustment of prices. The exemption decisions do not allow IBM to coordinate between its suppliers, nor do they allow suppliers to coordinate prices among themselves.
The arrangements that bind us to the various charges before us are horizontal arrangements, which deal with price coordination, which have no legitimate purpose. These are arrangements that fall within the framework of the absolute presumptions in the law, and by their nature establish libels to harm competition. This is also true in those specific charges in which one of the suppliers received a special hand. The exemption decisions do not constitute a determination that in the event of a special in hand, there is no intra-brand competition or that such competition between the suppliers has no feasibility. The decisions do not constitute a permit to thwart such competition and to make horizontal coordination arrangements (and in the last exemption decision, N/207, the Director-General also referred to the existence of intra-brand competition, paragraph 3.1 of the decision, in connection with the restriction regarding the classification of marketers).