Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

Pursuant to Article 56 (1) of the LPC, if, during an investigation, there is sufficient evidence of an infringement, in urgent cases where there is a risk of serious and irreparable damage to competition, the Commission may, at its own initiative or on request of the persons whose interests are affected or threatened by the infringement, order the immediate termination of the practice by the under …

Interim relief

Pursuant to Article 38 of the LPC, proceedings before the Commission for the Protection of Competition are initiated on:

- 3. an application by the persons, whose interests have been affected or threatened by an infringement of this Law;

- 4. an application for immunity from sanctions;

- 5. an application by the persons whose interests have been affected by acts which have been issued contrary to this Law.

- 6. a notification of a concentration between undertakings;

- 7. a request of a national competition authority of a Member State of the European Union or of the European Commission

- 8. a request for opinion of a state authority, including an authority of the executive branch or of local government"

- 9. a request from suppliers of agricultural and food products, from organizations of producers of agricultural products, from organizations of suppliers or associations of such organizations further to the request of one or more of their members or of one or more of the members of organizations being members thereof, including by other organizations having legal interest in representing suppliers upon a supplier’s request and in suppliers' interests provided that such organizations are not-for-profit legal persons. 

With regard to the application by a person whose interests have been affected (Article 38(3) above), Article 71 of the LPC specifies the explicit requirements for its content. Applications are required to be quite detailed, written in Bulgarian, and they will not be accepted if they are anonymous. In carrying out the inquiry, the Chairperson of the Commission assigns a member to be the reporting inspector with responsibility for conducting the procedure and appoints a case team from the administration, which performs the investigation (Article 44(1) of the LPC).

On-the-spot inspections on spot, which can take place both at the undertaking's premises and at the private residences and means of transport, are carried out with the permission of a judge of the Administrative Court of the Sofia district, further to a request made by the Chairperson of the Commission.  (Article 51 (1) of the LPC). 

The collection of evidence is conducted in the presence of representatives of the undertaking or association of undertakings (Article 52(1) of the LPC).

Pursuant to Article 55(3) of the LPC, “the Commission shall refuse to grant the parties and the constituted interested parties access to information provided by the persons under Art. 38, paragraph 1, item 9 which they think would harm their interests if disclosed. In such cases the person shall explicitly state the information and the materials claimed to contain information that affects such person’s interests by justifying the claims and submitting the same materials in a version with deleted data” 

After closing the investigation, the case team presents a report to the supervising member of the Commission, which must contain the factual and legal analysis of the case as well as a proposal concerning the manner of conclusion of the proceedings (Article 57(1) of the LPC).

Under Article 73(2) of the LPC, after being informed of the submission of the report, “The Chairperson shall issue an order scheduling a closed sitting of the Commission within 14 days as of the completion of the investigation, at which the further course of proceedings shall be decided”.

If the Commission establishes, at the closed sitting, that the proposal of the case team for establishing an infringement under Article 15 of the LPC or 101 of the TFEU is well-grounded, the Commission adopts a ruling to submit a Statement of Objections for the alleged infringement to the defendant (Article 74(1) of the LPC).

Under Article 76(1) of the LPC, the parties and the interested third parties have a right of access to the file as well as the right to be heard by the Commission in an open sitting, before it takes a decision on the merits.

The defendant may propose to undertake commitments (Article 75(1) of the LPC). However, Article 75(3) specifies that before adopting the decision under paragraph 2, the Commission must publish a notice in the register provided for in Article 68, which contains a summary of the object of the proceedings and the proposed commitments. Each participant shall have a period of time, specified in the decision and not exceeding 30 days after its publication, to submit information and an opinion on the proposed commitments. 

The final decision must be taken within six months of the hearings. 

Proceedings before the Commission for the Protection of Competition

Pursuant to Article 56 (1) of the LPC, if, during an investigation, there is sufficient evidence of an infringement, in urgent cases where there is a risk of serious and irreparable damage to competition, the Commission may, at its own initiative or on request of the persons whose interests are affected or threatened by the infringement, order the immediate termination of the practice by the undertaking or the association of undertakings, or impose other necessary measures, taking into account the objectives of this Law.

However, the Commission may not impose measures that fall within the jurisdiction of other authorities and that are provided for in other legislation.

  Under Article 56(2) of the LPC, the ruling on interim measures of the Commission “shall be subject to appeal under the procedure set forth in Article 64, paragraph (2)”.

Civil damages actions may be brought before civil courts. Bulgaria transposed EU Directive No 2014/104 of 26 November 2014 on damages actions for competition law infringements into national law on 3 January 2018 by way of amendments to the LPC. The new rules apply only to infringements to both Articles 101 TFEU and 15 of the LPC (restrictive agreements) and to Articles 102 TFEU and 21 of the LPC (abuse of dominant position). Decisions handed down by the European Commission (Art. 114(2)) or the Commission on Protection of Competition (Art. 105) constitute irrefutable presumption of a breach of the competition rules whereas the same decisions, when taken by the competition authorities of other Member States, will constitute prima facie evidence of a breach (Art. 114(1)). A rebuttable presumption is also laid down according to which cartels cause harm (Art. 113(2)), giving rise to a right to full compensation under Article 106. Like the EU directive, Article 108 allows the defendant to establish that the claimant has passed on the overcharge to its own customers. Conversely, Article 109 establishes a presumption in favor of the indirect purchaser according to which the overcharge has been passed on to it where the defendant has committed an infringement of the competition rules, which has led to an overcharge for the direct purchaser, and the indirect purchaser has acquired the goods or services covered by the infringement or goods or services incorporating them. Pursuant to Article 111 of the LPC, the limitation period runs from the date of the termination of the infringement where the claimant knows or should have known i) that the practice at issue constituted an infringement of competition rules, ii) the extent of the damages suffered by her/him and iii) the identity of the offender. The intiation of competition proceedings has the effect of interrupting the limitation period. According to Article 112, the court hearing the case may also suspend its proceedings where the parties decide to initiate an out-of-court settlement of the dispute. Furthermore, Article 115 of the LPC lays down that in the case of multiple offenders, each of them shall be held jointly and severally liable for the damage caused by the infringement. Specific rules apply in favor of SMEs and beneficiaries of full immunity from fines. Finally, Article 117 et seq. relax the rules regarding the collection of evidence for the purposes of establishing the parties' claims. However, under Article 118(5), the courts may never order the disclosure of requests for leniency or settlement agreements.

Global Competition Law

70. Interim relief

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Les notions juridiques connexes

70. Interim relief

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise