Interviewee

Interviewee

The interviewee can be a natural person or a legal person, which is duly represented by a natural person. Typical examples are a current or former member of staff of an undertaking (irrespective of their function in the undertaking), experts on specialised matters or a lawyer acting on behalf of a client. Employees of an undertaking need to be asked at the beginning of an interview whether they act on behalf of the undertaking (as legal person), or on their own behalf (as natural person). Unless there are no doubts in that regard, the interviewee should be asked to provide supporting documents concerning his identity and function.

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The interviewee must explicitly consent to being interviewed. As explained above, the interviewee can withdraw its consent at any moment and without justification – wholly or in part (e.g. by not answering to certain questions).

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Nobody can be prevented by its current or former employer from giving an interview, unless he/she acts on behalf of the undertaking. However when assessing the reliability of the statements made by the interviewee as evidence in the subsequent procedure the motives of the interviewee should be taken into account.

Other Considerations

The interviewee may decide to be accompanied by a person of his/her choice, e.g. a lawyer. Apart from those who assist the interviewee or the interviewers, no third party can participate in the interview. In particular, if the employee does not act on behalf of the undertaking, employers have no right to be informed about and/or attend the meeting (unless the employee agrees to it).

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The interviewee can choose the language used in the interview, provided that the language chosen is an official language of the European Union. If need be the Commission has to ensure appropriate translation.

Resources

See Also

References

• Information about Interviewee in the Antitrust Manual of Procedures for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (Internal DG Competition)

Further Reading

• Information about Interviewee in EU Competition Procedure, 3rd. Edition, Edited by Luis Ortiz Blanco (Oxford University Press)