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2022 | 15 | 25 |

Article title

Does the ‘more appropriate’ authority need to be independent? Rule of law implications for case referrals with respect of concentrations

Authors

Content

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Languages of publication

Abstracts

FR
Dans le récent arrêt Sped-Pro, le Tribunal a jugé qu’afin de garantir une protection juridictionnelle efficace du plaignant, la Commission est tenue d’examiner l’indépendance de l’autorité nationale de la concurrence concernée, ainsi que les préoccupations générales en matière d’État de droit, lorsqu’elle rejette des plaintes au titre de l’article 102 du TFUE et conclut qu’une telle autorité est «mieux placée» pour connaître de l’affaire. Cette contribution vise à discuter si une telle obligation s’applique aux renvois d’affaires de la Commission aux États membres en matière de concentrations. D’une part, il s’agit des mêmes autorités nationales de concurrence et les mêmes standards devraient s’appliquer. D’autre part, le système de renvoi des affaires diffère des caractéristiques du cadre des articles 101 et 102 du TFUE. Ainsi, cet article discute de l’arrêt du Tribunal dans l’affaire Sped-Pro, du cadre juridique et de la pratique concernant les renvois en matière de concentrations et, enfin, des conséquences de l’arrêt pour l’approche future de la Commission dans la matière discutée.
EN
In the recent Sped-Pro judgment, the General Court ruled that in order to guarantee effective judicial protection of the complainant, the Commission is obliged to examine the given national competition authority’s independence, and overall rule of law concerns, when it rejects complaints regarding Article 102 TFEU and concludes that such an authority is ‘best placed’ to hear the case. This contribution aims to discuss whether such obligation applies to case referrals from the Commission to Member States with respect of concentrations. On one hand, these are the same national competition authorities and the same standards should apply. On the other – the case referral system differs from the characteristics of the Articles 101–102 TFEU framework. Thus, this paper contains a discussion on the General Court’s judgment in Sped-Pro, the legal framework and practice regarding merger referrals, and, finally, the consequences of the judgment for the future approach of the Commission in the discussed matter.

Year

Volume

15

Issue

25

Physical description

Dates

published
2022

Contributors

  • Faculty of Law and Administration, Adam Mickiewicz University

References

  • Bernatt, M. (2019) ‘Rule of Law Crisis, Judiciary and Competition Law’, Legal Issues of Economic Integration 46(4), 345–362.
  • Bernatt, M. (2022) ‘The double helix of rule of law and EU competition law: An appraisal’, European Law Journal, 27(1–3).
  • Bretz, O. & Leppard, M. (2019) ‘EU Merger Control’ (2019), available at SSRN: http:// dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3385447, 33–34.
  • Filipek, P. (2019) ‘Rozproszona europejska kontrola przestrzegania prawa do rzetelnego procesu sądowego w świetle zasady wzajemnego zaufania i wyroku C-216/18 PPU LM’, Europejski Przegląd Sądowy (2) 14–31.
  • Guidi, M. (2014) ‘Delegation and Varieties of Capitalism: Explaining the Independence of National Competition Agencies in the European Union’. Comparative European Politics, 12(3).
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  • Kochenov, D. & Bard, P. (2018) ‘Rule of Law Crisis in the New Member States of the EU: The Pitfalls of Overemphasising Enforcement’, Reconnect Working Papers No. 1.
  • Kokkoris, I. & Shelanski, H. (2014) EU Merger Control. A Legal and Economic Analysis, (1st edn, OUP 2014) 564.
  • Kozak, M. (2019) ‘Raz, dwa, trzy, niezależny będziesz ty… O konieczności szerszego spojrzenia na niezależność polskiego organu antymonopolowego w świetle dyrektywy ECN+’, iKAR, 6(8), 23–38. Leitenberger, J. & Zedler, M. (2018) ‘Making Merger Review Work’ [in:] Kokott, J., Pohlmann, R. (eds), Europäisches, Deutsches und Internationales Kartellrecht’ Festschrift für Dirk Schroeder zum 65. Geburtstag, (1st edn, Verlag Dr. Otto Schmidt KG), 466–467.
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  • Spieker, L. (2019) ‘Breathing Life into the Union’s Common Values: On the Judicial Application of Article 2 TEU in the EU Value Crisis,’ German Law Journal, 20(8), 1182–1213.
  • Svetlicinii, A. (2020) ‘State-Controlled Entities in the EU Merger Control: the Case of PKN Orlen and Lotos Group’, Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, 13(22), 204.
  • Svetlicinii, A. (2022) ‘Ownership-neutral or ownership-blind? The case of Polish stateowned enterprises in EU merger control’, Journal of Antitrust Enforcement.
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Document Type

Publication order reference

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki
2158408

YADDA identifier

bwmeta1.element.ojs-doi-10_7172_1689-9024_YARS_2022_15_25_5
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