Provision of access to file

Access to the file is granted to the parties after an SO has been notified. 1

More about Provision of access to file

The access to file should be ready at the date of notification of the SO.

More about the Subject

In the cover letter of the SO (See Module Statement of Objections), the parties are usually informed that if they want to have access to the file, they have to make a written request within 5 working days after receipt of the SO, in order to: – collect the CD-ROM/DVD at DG Competition's premises or receive the CD-ROM/DVD by express courier and/or – obtain access to corporate statements in case of leniency cases.

Other Considerations

The parties (or their duly mandated lawyer) have to sign an acknowledgement of receipt 2 – when they collect the CD-ROM/DVD at the DG Competition's premises, – when they obtain access to the corporate statements at the DG Competition's premises.

The case team may inform the addressees who receive the CD-ROM/DVD that pursuant to Article 15(4) of Regulation (EC) 773/2004, any information that they have solely obtained through access to the Commission file can only be used for the purposes of judicial or administrative proceedings for the application of Article 101 or 102 TFEU, including proceedings before national courts. They should ensure that no further use will be made of this information. Should the information be used for a different purpose, at any point in time, with the involvement of an outside legal counsel, the Commission may, for example, consider reporting the incident to the bar of that counsel.

Parties who want to consult the corporate statements should contact the case team to arrange a date with the Commission and are asked to provide in advance their identity information. Ideally, the case team will have planned access to file at the Commission premises and discussed this prior to the notification of the SO (see further under 3.2.2).

If a party does not want to receive the CD-ROM/DVD with the file, alternative form of access may be arranged (see further under section 6).

The deadline to reply to the SO starts when the parties have received the most important documents from the Commission file 3 and as from the day after the receipt of these documents 4 .

In practice, the deadline to reply begins usually either (whichever event is the earliest): – the day after the parties collect the CD-ROM/DVD at DG Competition's premises; or – the day after the parties receive the CD-ROM/DVD by mail; or – in any event after five working days, if the parties express in writing that they decline access to the file or do not ask for the CD-ROM/DVD within 5 working days after the notification of the SO.

Access to corporate statements at DG Competition's premises does normally not modify the deadline for reply to the SO, if the parties have been given access to the most important documents from the file by the CD-ROM/DVD.

Resources

References

Information about Provision of access to file in the Antitrust Manual of Procedures for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (Internal DG Competition)

Notes

[Note 1] Article 15(1) of Regulation 773/2004 and para. 26 and 27 of the Notice on access to file.
[Note 2] In case a driver is committed by the law-firm to pick-up the CD-ROM/DVD, the duly mandated lawyer has to sign a mandate for his driver to collect the CD ROM/DVD on his behalf. The driver signs the acknowledgement of receipt, delivers the CD ROM/DVD to the duly mandated lawyer who in his turns signs the acknowledgement of receipt, scans it and sends it to DG Competition for the file.
[Note 3] Case T-44/00, Mannesmannröhren-Werke [2004] ECR II-2223, para. 65.
[Note 4] Art 3 Reg. 1182/71 of the Council of 3 June 1971 determining the rules applicable to periods, dates and time limits.

Provision of access to file

Provision of access to file