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

According to the terms of Article 7(1) of Regulation No 773/2004, “Where the Commission considers that on the basis of the information in its possession there are insufficient grounds for acting on a complaint, it shall inform the complainant of its reasons and set a time-limit within which the complainant may make known its views in writing. The Commission shall not be obliged to take into accoun …

Procedure

According to the terms of Article 7(1) of Regulation No 773/2004, “Where the Commission considers that on the basis of the information in its possession there are insufficient grounds for acting on a complaint, it shall inform the complainant of its reasons and set a time-limit within which the complainant may make known its views in writing. The Commission shall not be obliged to take into account any further written submission received after the expiry of that time-limit”.

There are three successive stages in the course of the procedure for the handling of a complaint :

- Stage 1: this follows the submission of the complaint - the Commission examines the complaint and collects the information on the basis of which it will decide what decision it will take; this may give rise to an informal exchange of views and information between the Commission and the complainant with a view to clarifying the factual and legal issues with which the complaint is concerned;

- Stage 2: the Commission decides either that it will pursue the complaint or that there are insufficient grounds to act; in the latter case, it sends a notification to the complainant of the reasons for which it considers that there are insufficient grounds for granting the application and gives the applicant the opportunity to submit any further comments within a fixed time-limit; the complaint is deemed to have been withdrawn if the complainant does not make known its views within that time-limit;

- Stage 3: the Commission takes cognizance of the observations submitted by the complainant; this stage ends either with a rejection and filing of the complaint or with the initiation of a procedure .

See Case T-64/89 Automec v Commission [1990] ECR II-367 LawLex200500004016JBJ, which provides the first description of the three successive stages of the procedure for rejection of a complaint.

See Commission Notice No 2004/C 101/05 of 27 April 2004, at pts 53 to 57.

Complainants are closely associated with the proceedings and have, inter alia, the right to be heard and to be informed. Regulation No 773/2004 even in its recitals states that complainants should be able to express their views not only where the Commission considers that there are insufficient grounds for acting on the complaint but also where it rejects a complaint on the grounds that a competition authority of a Member State is dealing with it or has already done so. The notice on best practices  states that where, after careful examination of the case, the Commission comes to the preliminary conclusion that it should not pursue the case, it will first inform the complainant in a meeting or by phone that it has come to the preliminary view that the case may be rejected. Once informed, the complainant may decide to withdraw the complaint . If the complainant intends to pursue the case, the Commission must inform him by a formal letter pursuant to Article 7(1) of Regulation No 1/2003 of its preliminary conclusion that there are insufficient grounds for acting and set a time-limit for its written observations. The complainant may then request access to the documents on which the Commission has based its preliminary assessment (Article 8(1) of Regulation No 773/2004) and use those documents for the purposes of judicial or administrative proceedings following a rejection of its complaint for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. 

If in the course of its examination of the complaint the Commission has opened proceedings pursuant to Article 11(6) of Regulation No 1/2003, a State of Play meeting will be offered to the complainant prior to sending such a formal letter. If the complainant does not react to the above-mentioned letter of the Commission within the time-limit, the complaint is deemed to have been withdrawn pursuant to Article 7(3). The complainant is then informed accordingly about the administrative closure of the case. If the submissions of the complainant in response to the above-mentioned letter of the Commission, does not lead the Commission to a different assessment of the complaint, it will reject the complaint by formal decision pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1/2003. If the submissions of the complainant lead to a different assessment of the complaint, the Commission will continue its investigation .

Where the Commission issues a Statement of Objections relating to a matter in respect of which it has received a complaint, the complainant is entitled to receive a copy, to submit its written comments and to present its views orally to the Hearing Officer. In cases where the settlement procedure applies, the complainant is informed in writing only of the nature and subject-matter of the procedure (Regulation No 773/2004, Article 6).

Commission notice on best practices for the conduct of proceedings concerning Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, No 2011/C 308/06, OJEU C 308 of 20 October 2011, 6.

Commission notice on best practices, cited above, pt 139.

Commission notice on best practices, cited above, pts. 139 - 141.

European Competition Law

192. Procedure

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192. Procedure

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Sous parties

Les notions juridiques connexes

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