British pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been vindicated in a six-year legal case brought by Greek wholesalers who bought its products and re-exported them to other European Union countries at higher prices, the Greek competition watchdog said Wednesday.

The Hellenic Competition Commission this week ruled that the British giant had not violated EU competition rules in late 2000, when it halted the supply of three key drugs to Greek wholesalers in retaliation at a practice known as parallel trade.

"There is no doubt that a large part of these orders ended up in the markets of other member-states, particularly the United Kingdom, because their prices were much lower in Greece," it said in its ruling.

The drugs in question were Lamictal, which is used against epilepsy, Imigran for migranes and Serevent, which combats respiratory problems.

"Based on the testimony given by the plaintiffs, these drugs at the time were irreplaceable (for patients)", a commission official told AFP.

The wholesalers and pharmacy cooperatives in December 2000 filed a complaint against GlaxoSmithKline after it cut off supply of the drugs, a severance lasting from November 2000 to February 2001.

But the commission ruled that this did not necessarily constitute abuse of the company's dominant market position, as it continued to supply Greek hospitals and pharmacies directly.

"The committee decided not to condemn GlaxoSmithKline...because it had adhered to Greek requirements for the pharmaceutical sector, which state that suppliers must furnish the Greek market with the current level of prescription needs plus 25 percent for emergencies," the official said.

"This is a vindication of GSK's commercial policy in Europe," Andrew Witty, president of GlaxoSmithKline's European pharmaceuticals section said in a statement.

"Today's decision recognises that parallel trade...across Europe, where prices are directly or indirectly controlled by EU governments, benefits primarily traders who pass on none or almost none of the price differences to patients and payers," Witty said.