Timing to Open proceedings

Timing: when to Open proceedings?

Pursuant to Article 2 of Regulation 773/2004 the Commission may decide to open proceedings with a view to adopting a decision pursuant to Chapter III (Article 7 to 10) of Regulation 1/2003 at any point in time, but no later than the date on which it issues a Statement of Objections, a Preliminary Assessment as referred to in Article 9(1) of Regulation 1/2003 or a Notice pursuant to Article 27(4) of Regulation 1/2003 (for instance in an Article 10 procedure), whichever is the earlier. The Notice on Antitrust Best Practices further provides that the Commission will open proceedings under Article 11(6) of Regulation 1/2003 when the initial assessment leads to the conclusion that the case merits further investigation and where the scope of the investigation has been sufficiently defined. 1 In cartel cases, the opening of proceedings normally takes place simultaneously with the adoption of the Statement of Objections, though it may take place earlier 2 . Also in other cases, if by conducting limited further investigations the appropriate scope of the case can be determined with more certainty, it may be advisable to carry out such further investigation before proposing to open proceedings.

Resources

See Also

References

• Information about Timing to Open proceedings in the Antitrust Manual of Procedures for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (Internal DG Competition)

Notes

[Note 1] See Notice on Antitrust Best Practices, paragraph 17.
[Note 2] See Notice on Antitrust Best Practices, paragraph 24.

Further Reading

• Information about Timing to Open proceedings in “An Introduction to EU Competition Law”, Moritz Lorenz (Cambridge University Press)