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

The Commission may grant, at the request of an undertaking, immunity from fines for an infringement of Article 15 or 101 TFEU provided that it discloses its participation in the cartel and provides evidence to the Commission on the basis of which the latter may, inter alia, (Article 101) : 
- carry out an on-site inspection, if at that moment the Commission did not have sufficient data and evidenc …

Leniency

In its decision, which is issued after the hearing, the Commission has the authority to order the termination of infringements, including by imposing the relevant behavioral and/or structural measures to restore competition (Article 77(4) of the LPC).

Cease and desist orders

Under Article 99 of the LPC, “(1) In case of infringement of the provisions of this Law, where the act does not constitute a crime, administrative penal liability shall be borne. (2) The pecuniary sanctions and fines under this Law shall be imposed by a decision of the Commission which shall be subject to appeal before the Supreme Administrative Court in respect of its legality under the procedure set forth in the Code of Administrative Procedure”.

Violations of the prohibition on anticompetitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position (Articles 15 and 21 of the LPC) are punishable by a pecuniary sanction “in an amount not exceeding 10% of the total turnover in the preceding financial year on an undertaking or an association of undertakings” (Article 100 (1) of the LPC).

In addition to the fines imposed on undertakings, individuals who have violated the LPC are subject to fines of BGN 500 to 50,000 (EUR 254.79 to EUR 25,478.82) (Article 102 (1) of the LPC).

Persons who fail to submit in time the evidence requested or fail to supply complete, accurate, trustworthy and not misleading information shall be liable to a fine of BGN 500 to 25,000 (EUR 254.79 to EUR 12,739.41) (Article 102 (2) of the Act).

Under Article 100 (8) of the LPC “when determining the amount of the pecuniary sanction the infringement’s gravity and duration as well as the circumstances mitigating and aggravating the liability shall be taken into consideration. The specific amount of the sanction shall be determined by the Commission in accordance with a methodology adopted by it and published on its website.”.

Pursuant to Article 100 (9) of the LPC, "The Commission shall impose periodic pecuniary sanctions on an undertaking or association of undertakings to the amount of up to 5 percent of the average daily turnover in the preceding financial year for each of failure to comply with:

- a decision of the Commission ordering the termination of an infringement, including by imposing the appropriate behavioral or structural remedies (...);

- a ruling of the Commission, imposing interim measures (...);

- a decision of the Commission to approve commitments undertaken (...)".

Among the major changes introduced by the transposition of the ECN+ Directive is the introduction of parental liability. 

Financial sanctions for cartels and abuses of dominance may be imposed not only on the offending entity but also on the person who controls it, or the person that has acquired its assets, as a result of a transformation in which the infringing entity has ceased to exist, or on the economic successor of the activity through which the violation has been commited. 

Another important change concerns the mechanism for recovering penalties imposed on associations for the violation of Article 101 TFEU or Article 15 of the LPC regarding the activity of their members. If the association fails to pay the fine, the members of the association must fund the liability and, if they fail to do so, the NCA will be entitled to recover the amount from any company whose representative sat in the association's management or supervisory bodies. 

The possibility of imposing a fine on persons who fail to provide the required information, oppose the dawn raids or provide false, incomplete or misleading information is also provided for. 

These new rules are subject to a specific scope of application. Despite Article 2(2) of the ECN+ Directive, which provides that the rules of the Directive apply only where national law applies in parallel with European law (Articles 101 and 102 TFEU), the new provisions are intended to apply even where only national law applies. The new provisions therefore go beyond the scope of the European directive. 

Fines

The Commission may grant, at the request of an undertaking, immunity from fines for an infringement of Article 15 or 101 TFEU provided that it discloses its participation in the cartel and provides evidence to the Commission on the basis of which the latter may, inter alia, (Article 101) : 

- carry out an on-site inspection, if at that moment the Commission did not have sufficient data and evidence to make a request to be granted a court authorization subject to the procedure stipulated in Art. 51, or;

-prove the claimed infringement as long as it has not granted to another undertaking conditional immunity from sanctions and did not have sufficient evidence to deliver a decision for establishment of an infringement.

  All applications for immunity from fines or reduction of fines and the information and evidence enclosed relating to one and the same alleged cartel, shall be reviewed and assessed in the consecutive order in which they were received and registered in the Commission.

  The final immunity from fines or reduction of fines shall be granted to undertakings with a final decision adopted by the Commission at the end of the proceedings in accordance with the overall analysis of all evidence and the extent to which the undertaking has met all conditions in the course of the proceedings.

Global Competition Law

74. Leniency

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Les notions juridiques connexes

74. Leniency

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