Tag Archives: Identifying Information

Disputes over confidentiality claims

Leave a reply

Disputes over confidentiality claims

Disputes over confidentiality claims not settled – involvement of the Hearing Officer

Where a disagreement over confidentiality claims cannot be resolved: – The relevant addressee(s) are informed by a letter signed by a Head of Unit or case manager of those confidentiality claims that are not considered to be justified, the reasons thereof 1 and of the fact that: – they may address themselves, within a reasonable deadline to be set in view of the circumstances of the case (in some cases one week may be appropriate), to the Hearing Officer, who can decide on the disputed confidentiality claims 2 , and, – if they fail to address the Hearing Officer within the given deadline, the relevant confidentiality claims are considered to be withdrawn and the relevant information covered by those claims will be published.

More about Disputes over confidentiality claims

If the Hearing Officer is addressed within the given deadline: – The relevant procedure regarding the involvement of the Hearing Officer – pursuant to Article 8 of the Terms of Reference applies – In case the Hearing Officer is involved, a provisional version of the decision without the disputed parts will be published on the website. – The final non-confidential version will be disclosed on the date specified in the reasoned decision of the Hearing Officer notified to the provider of information, unless the addressee(s) brings an action against the Hearing Officer's decision before the General Court and makes a request for interim relief to the Court to suspend the effect of that decision.

Resources

See Also

References

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

Notes


[Note 1] See Article 8(1) of the Hearing Officer Terms of Reference.
[Note 2] See Article 8 of the Hearing Officer Terms of Reference.

Further Reading

  • Information about Disputes over confidentiality claims in “An Introduction to EU Competition Law”, Moritz Lorenz (Cambridge University Press)

Confidentiality claims not acceptable

Leave a reply

Confidentiality claims not acceptable

Confidentiality claims not acceptable

It is for the case team to determine whether any of the confidentiality claims are justified on the basis of substantiated reasons provided by the parties, in line with the substantive requirements detailed in section 6 below.

More about Confidentiality claims not acceptable

Disagreements on confidentiality claims with the parties should usually not arise for the documents to be published in the OJ (summary of the decision, final report of the Hearing Officer and opinion of the Advisory Committee), which generally do not contain confidential information. Such disagreements, however, may occur when establishing the non-confidential version of the decision for publication on the website.

More about the Subject

In case of a disagreement with any party on confidentiality issues, the case team informs the party of its disagreement with a view to obtaining the agreement of all parties on a version that is acceptable to the Commission.

Other Considerations

Initially this can be done informally, though it should be done in writing and reasoned. A deadline should be set for the party to submit any written comments. An e-mail by the case handler suffices.

Resources

See Also

References

  • Information about Confidentiality claims not acceptable in the Antitrust Manual of Procedures for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (Internal DG Competition)

Further Reading

  • Information about Confidentiality claims not acceptable in EU Competition Procedure, 3rd. Edition, Edited by Luis Ortiz Blanco (Oxford University Press)

Confidentiality claims acceptable

Leave a reply

Confidentiality claims acceptable

Confidentiality claims acceptable

Where the addressees make confidentiality claims (either in response to the first or to the reminder letter), the case team will have to assess these and decide whether to accept them or not.

More about Confidentiality claims acceptable

If the case team accepts all confidentiality claims, it prepares a consolidated version of the decision and takes all the necessary steps for the publication on the website (see 5).

Resources

See Also

References

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

Further Reading

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