European Competition Law provides a wide-ranging review of the European rules relating to competition: restrictive agreements, abuse of a dominant position, impact of intellectual property rights, procedure, merger control, State aid.

European Competition Law

Article 7 of Regulation No 1/2003 states that the Commission may find the existence of an infringement to Article 101 and 102 TFEU either acting on a complaint or on its own initiative (ex officio). According to the Court of Justice, the Commission can start proceedings on its own initiative irrespective of the legitimate interest in requesting the opening of the procedure of the complainants . Th …

Initiation of proceedings

Article 7 of Regulation No 1/2003 states that the Commission may find the existence of an infringement to Article 101 and 102 TFEU either acting on a complaint or on its own initiative (ex officio). According to the Court of Justice, the Commission can start proceedings on its own initiative irrespective of the legitimate interest in requesting the opening of the procedure of the complainants . The Commission has several means of obtaining information for establishing the existence of an infringement at its disposal:

- complaints: can be anonymous or by a person with no legitimate interest in bringing proceedings and serves to alert the Commission as to probable violations of the EU competition rules; the Commission is entitled to open proceedings on its own initiative . According to the Commission Notice on the handling of complaints, those parties not meeting the conditions required to make an official complaint can supply any information they have on suspected infringements, in particular via its website . In its Best Practices for antitrust procedures, it underlines that the submission of a complaint by a person who has a legitimate interest gives that person certain rights in the course of the procedure ;

- information can be provided by the national authorities of Member States or by the authorities of third countries with cooperation arrangements with the Commission;

- sector investigations under Article 17 of Regulation No 1/2003 by which the Commission gathers information from particular undertakings in a sector of the economy, with a view to establishing a presumption of infringement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.

The Commission also acts of its own initiative when it holds Article 101 or 102 TFEU not to be applicable to an agreement, a concerted practice or unilateral conduct in the EU public interest (Article 10 of Regulation No 1/2003).

See Case 32/78 BMW Belgium v Commission [1979] ECR 2435, LawLex200500004092JBJ.

See Commission Notice No 2004/C 101/04 of 27 April 2004 at pt 4.

Best Practices, at pt 9, which underlines that it is essential for the Commission to obtain complaints or information from citizens and undertakings in order to trigger an investigation.

European Competition Law

185. Initiation of proceedings

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

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185. Initiation of proceedings

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise