Taking position on immunity application

Taking position on immunity application and establishing first priority assessment – a note to the Commissioner

Timing: The Commission will endeavour to take position on an immunity application in a short timeframe. However, the time needed will depend on the complexity of the case. For instance if the application is being considered under point 8(b) of the 2006 Leniency Notice and the Commission already has a significant amount of evidence or in a border-line case, where it is not clear whether the threshold is met. More time may also be needed in the case of oral applications (when a transcript of an oral corporate statement needs to be prepared).

More about Taking position on immunity application

Internal Note to the Commissioner: The Commissioner must be informed whether in DG Competition's view the conditions of point 8(a) or, as the case may be, 8(b) of the 2006 Leniency Notice are fulfilled.

More about the Subject

Granting conditional immunity and asking for an agreement to inspections: In case it is proposed to grant conditional immunity, where appropriate, the Commissioner should normally be asked in the same internal note to agree in principle to the carrying out of surprise inspections. If such inspections are not proposed, the Commissioner should be informed of the reasons for this. When inspections (or other forms of investigative measures) are proposed, the internal note to the Commissioner should also contain a first priority assessment. The priority assessment can be kept fairly short and concise.

Other Considerations

Rejecting conditional immunity: If the evidence submitted with the application is clearly insufficient to meet the conditions of points 8(a) or 8(b) of the Leniency Notice, it is recommended that the Commission services should, as long as no other application has been received, advise the applicant of this informally and give it the opportunity to supplement the evidence.

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As mentioned above, an application for immunity may exceptionally be refused in the acknowledgement of receipt if it is clear that immunity is no longer available. In most cases, however, whether the application meets the criteria of points 8(a) or 8(b) of the Notice will require a substantive assessment. If, in such cases, the Directorate-General proposes to reject the application, the approval of the Commissioner should be sought.

Resources

See Also

References

• Information about Taking position on immunity application in the Antitrust Manual of Procedures for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (Internal DG Competition)

Further Reading

• Information about Taking position on immunity application in EU Competition Procedure, 3rd. Edition, Edited by Luis Ortiz Blanco (Oxford University Press)