Privilege against self-incrimination

Privilege against self-incrimination

The questions should be framed so they do not solicit self-incriminatory replies.

More about Privilege against self-incrimination

Where the addressee of a request for information pursuant to Article 18(2) Reg. 1/2003 refuses to reply to a question in such a request invoking the privilege against self-incrimination, as defined by the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union 1 , it may refer the matter in due time following the receipt of the request to the Hearing Officer, after having raised the matter with DG Competition before the expiry of the original time limit set 2 . The addressee may also simply not reply to this question.

More about the Subject

In appropriate cases, and having regard to the need to avoid undue delay in proceedings, the Hearing Officer may make a reasoned recommendation as to whether the privilege against selfincrimination applies and inform the director responsible of the conclusions drawn, to be taken into account in case of any decision taken subsequently pursuant to Article 18(3) Reg.1/2003. The addressee of the request shall receive a copy of the reasoned recommendation. The addressee of an Article 18(3) decision will be reminded of the privilege against self-incrimination as defined by case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union 3 This procedure allows discussions with the addressee on possibly self-incriminatory questions to be settled at an early stage, before issuing an Article 18(3) request (for details see section 5 below).

Resources

See Also

References

• Information about Privilege against self-incrimination in the Antitrust Manual of Procedures for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (Internal DG Competition)

Notes

[Note 1] See for example Case C-301/04 P Commission v SGL, [2006] ECR I-5915, which specifies that addressees of an Article 18(3) decision may be required to provide pre-existing documents, such as minutes of cartel meetings, even if those documents may incriminate the party providing them.
[Note 2] Article 4(2)(b) of the terms of reference of the Hearing Officer and Notice on Antitrust Best Practices, para. 36.
[Note 3] See footnote 33.

Further Reading

• Information about Privilege against self-incrimination in “An Introduction to EU Competition Law”, Moritz Lorenz (Cambridge University Press)