Processing of the request

Processing of the request

Adoption of a Guidance Letter: Processing of the request

If it is decided to issue a guidance letter, it might be necessary to collect supplementary information, including by informal enquiries (while respecting the normal rules on professional secrecy with regard to the information supplied by the applicant(s)).

More about Processing of the request

According to the Notice on Informal Guidance, a guidance letter sets out: – a summary description of the facts on which it is based; – the principal legal reasoning underlying the understanding of the Commission on novel questions relating to Articles 101 and/or 102 TFEU raised by the request.

More about the Subject

According to the Notice on Informal Guidance, a guidance letter may be limited to part of the questions raised in the request. It may also include additional aspects to those set out in the request.

Other Considerations

The Commission may share the information submitted to it with the Member States' competition authorities and receive input from them.

More

According to the Notice on Informal Guidance, the guidance letter will be posted on the Commission's web-site, having regard to the legitimate interest of undertakings in the protection of their business secrets. Before issuing a guidance letter, the Commission will agree with the applicants on a public version. It follows that the service in charge of the preparation should ask the undertakings at an early stage for a definitive position on whether their request contains business secrets or other confidential information that they would not wish to see used in the published guidance letter. The case-handling unit should explore with the undertaking the possibilities to protect the information for which confidentiality is claimed while making public meaningful guidance. If the contacts with the undertakings on this matter lead to the conclusion that useful guidance could only be issued (and made public) if certain information is revealed that the undertakings do not wish to see disclosed, the request for a guidance letter should be rejected.

More

Before the draft guidance letter is submitted for adoption, the Competition Commissioner should be asked to give his/her approval. The guidance letter is adopted by the College (normally by written procedure), following an inter-service consultation. Once adopted, the guidance letter is sent by the Secretariat general to the applicant(s).

Resources

See Also

References

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

Further Reading

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

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