Scope of publication

Scope of publication

Scope of publication

Article 30(1) of Regulation No 1/2003 1 requires the Commission to publish the main content of the following decisions in the OJ: – Article 7, Finding and termination of an infringement, – Article 8, interim measures, – Article 9, commitments, – Article 10, Finding of inapplicability, – Article 23, fines, – Article 24, periodic penalty payments.

More about Scope of publication

The obligation to publish in the OJ extends to the final report of the Hearing Officer, 2 as well as to the opinion of the Advisory Committee, if the Advisory Committee so recommends. 3

More about the Subject

According to Article 27(4) Reg.1/2003, when the Commission intends to adopt a decision pursuant to Article 9 or 10 Reg. 1/2003, it has to publish a summary of the case and the main content of the commitment or of the proposed course of action (so-called Art. 27(4) Market test notice).

Other Considerations

Publications going beyond the legal requirements are published on the DG Competition website (see further section 3 ). Addressees of decisions adopted under the above mentioned articles have no specific right to prevent the publication by the Commission in the Official Journal and, where relevant, on DG Competition's website, of information which, even though not confidential, includes more than the 'main content' essential for understanding the operative part of those decisions.

More

As the Court has established: “(…) the interest of an undertaking which the Commission has fined for breach of competition law in the details of the offending conduct of which it is accused not being disclosed to the public does not warrant any particular protection, given the public interest in knowing as fully as possible the reasons behind any Commission action, the interest of the economic operators in knowing the sort of behaviour for which they are liable to be penalised and the interest of persons harmed by the infringement in being informed of the details thereof so that they may, where appropriate, assert their rights against the undertakings punished, and in view of the fined undertaking's ability to seek judicial review of such a decision” 4 .

Resources

See Also

References

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

Notes


[Note 1]
Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty, OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1-25.
[Note 2]
Art. 17(3) of the Decision of the President of the European Commission of 13 October 2011 on the function and terms of reference of the hearing officer in certain competition proceedings, OJ L 275, 20.10.2011, p. 29 (“Hearing Officer Terms of Reference”).
[Note 3]
Art. 14(6) Regulation No. 1/2003. Nota: For decisions imposing fines, the opinion of the Advisory Committee consists of two parts (one on the substance and one on the fines). In line with Art. 14 Regulation No. 1/2003 this section refers to both parts as the “opinion of the Advisory Committee”.
[Note 4]
See Case T-198/03 Bank Austria Creditanstalt / Commission [2006] ECR II-1429, paragraph 77.

Further Reading

  • Information about Scope of publication in “An Introduction to EU Competition Law”, Moritz Lorenz (Cambridge University Press)

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