Public consultation on EU-Commission’s practices in antitrust cases

On 6 January the European Commission published three documents explaining how its antitrust procedures work in practice: (1) Best Practices for antitrust proceedings, (2) Best Practices for the submission of economic evidence (both in antitrust and merger proceedings) and (3) Guidance on the role of the Hearing Officers in the context of antitrust proceedings.

The guidance papers will be applied provisionally as from 06/01/2010 but the Commission invited the legal and business community to submit comments until 03/03/2010. The European Commission will adjust the guidelines accordingly.

The documents are meant to guide companies under investigation through the proceedings and tell them what to expect from the Commission and what the Commission expects from them.

Remarks should be sent to
COMP-Best-Practices@ec.europa.eu or
Hearing.Officier@ec.europa.eu

Best practices on the conduct of antitrust proceeding

The guide’s objective is to increase the understanding of the investigation process before the European Commission; it gives information on the day-to-day conduct of proceedings concerning articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)[1].

Some of the relevant changes introduced are: companies now have earlier access to the complaints made against them and there is an earlier opening of the formal proceeding. The EC Competition service offers "state of play" meetings at key points in antitrust cases to companies under investigation.

Best practices for the submission of economic evidence and data collection

The importance of providing appropriate economic evidence is growing especially in complex antitrust and merger cases. The document details the relevant economic and empirical evidence that may be taken into account in the assessment of a competition case. It provides not only recommendation regarding the content and presentation of the economic analysis but also guidance how to respond to Commission requests for data.

Guidance on procedures of the Hearing officers

The two Hearing Officers are responsible for safeguarding the rights of defence of undertakings subject to proceedings related to articles 101 and 102 of the TFEU; thereby they ensure a high degree of transparency, fairness and predictability in competition cases. The paper aims at making their role clearer and describes their various tasks; in this guide, companies can read how to best use an oral hearing. The document also describes Hearing Officers reporting obligations and their advisory role towards the competition Commissioner, the college of Commissioners and towards the companies that are addresses of Commission decisions.

The consultation documents are available at: ec.europa.eu/competition/consultations/2010_best_practices/index.html