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 Article 18 of the Commission's Rules of Procedure , instruments adopted in the course of a meeting or by written procedure, are authenticated in the authentic language by the signatures of the President and the Secretary-General. The signatures are on the minutes of the meeting at which the instrument was adopted and not on the decision itself .
The authentication of a Commission's in …

Authentication

According to Article 18 of the Commission's Rules of Procedure , instruments adopted in the course of a meeting or by written procedure, are authenticated in the authentic language by the signatures of the President and the Secretary-General. The signatures are on the minutes of the meeting at which the instrument was adopted and not on the decision itself .

The authentication of a Commission's instrument constitutes an essential procedural formality the infringement of which results in the annulment of the defective instrument without there being any need to establish the existence of any harm . This formality makes it possible to verify, in the event of a dispute, that the texts notified or published correspond precisely to the text adopted. It must therefore necessarily precede its notification in order to be valid . Only purely orthographic or grammatical corrections may be made on the text after its formal adoption . Any further amendments infringe the principle of the inalterability of the measure adopted .

Acts of the EU authorities are in principle presumed to be lawful. They produce legal effects, even if they are tainted by irregularities, until such time as they are annulled or withdrawn. However, where the gravity of the irregularity is so obvious that it cannot be tolerated by the EU legal order, the act must be regarded as non-existent. The inexistence is however reserved for “quite extreme situations” . It does not concern the drafting after a different language version was adopted  or the lack of notification of the decision .

See for an example Case T-338/94 Centro Europa 7 v Commission [2006] ECR II-22, LawLex200500005226JBJ.

Case C-287/95 P Commission v Solvay [2000] ECR I-2391, LawLex200500004945JBJ.

Case C-287/95 P Commission v Solvay [2000] ECR I-2391, LawLex200500004945JBJ; Case C-227/92 P Hoechst v Commission [1999] ECR I-4443, LawLex200500003914JBJ.

Thus, amendments which relate to the payment of fines by installments and their minimum amount, the pagination of documents and the font do not infringe the principle of inalterability of the measure adopted, Case T-145/94 Unimétal v Commission [1999] ECR II-585, LawLex200500005239JBJ.

Case T-79/89 BASF and others v Commission [1992] ECR II-315, LawLex200500004925JBJ.

Case C-137/92 Commission v BASF and others [1994] ECR I-2555, LawLex200500004939JBJ.

Case C-235/92 P Montecatini v Commission [1999] ECR I-4539, LawLex200500003912JBJ.

Case C-227/92 P Hoechst v Commission [1999] ECR I-4443, LawLex200500003914JBJ.

European Competition Law

249. Authentication

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

249. Authentication

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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