Directive (EU) 2019/1 to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market

Author (Corporate) ,
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Series Details L 11
Publication Date 14/01/2019
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Summary:

On 22 March 2017 the European Commission presented a proposal intended to further empower the Member States' competition authorities, aiming to ensure that when applying the same legal basis these authorities have the appropriate enforcement tools.

An informal agreement between the co-legislators on this draft law was reached on 30 May 2018, and the Council of the European Union's committee of representatives provisionally endorsed it on 20 June. The Directive was adopted on 11 December.

Further information:

Since 2004, the national competition authorities of the EU Member States (NCAs) are empowered by Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 to apply EU competition rules alongside the Commission. For more than a decade both the Commission and the NCAs have enforced the EU's competition rules in close cooperation in the European Competition Network (ECN), which was created in 2004 expressly for this purpose.

There is untapped potential for more effective enforcement of the EU competition rules by the NCAs. Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 did not address the means and instruments by which NCAs apply the EU competition rules and many do not have all the means and instruments they need. This means that companies engaging in anti-competitive practices can face very different outcomes of proceedings depending on the Member States in which they are active. Uneven enforcement of the rules distorts competition in the internal market and it undermines the system of decentralised enforcement that was put in place by Regulation (EC) No 1/2003.

Source Link Link to Main Source https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2019.011.01.0003.01.ENG
Related Links
Official
EUR-Lex: COM(2017)142: Proposal for a Directive to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2017:142:FIN
EUR-Lex: SWD(2017)114: Impact assessment accompanying COM(2017)142 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2017:114:FIN
EUR-Lex: SWD(2017)115: Executive summary of the impact assessment accompanying COM(2017)142 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2017:115:FIN
EUR-Lex: SWD(2017)116: Implementation plan accompanying COM(2017)142 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2017:116:FIN
European Parliament: Legislative Observatory: Procedure File for a proposal on empowering competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil-mobile/fiche-procedure/2017/0063(COD)
European Parliament: Legislative Train: Empowerment of national competition authorities (NCAs) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-deeper-and-fairer-internal-market-with-a-strengthened-industrial-base-services-including-transport/file-empowerment-nca
European Commission: Press Release, 22/03/2017: Antitrust: Commission proposal to make national competition authorities even more effective enforcers for the benefit of jobs and growth http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-685_en.htm
European Commission: Statement, 30/05/2018: Commission welcomes provisional political agreement reached by European Parliament and Council on new rules to make national competition authorities even more effective enforcers http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-18-3996_en.htm
Council of the European Union: Press Release, 20/06/2018: New measures to fight against illegal competition practices in the internal market https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/06/20/new-measures-to-fight-against-illegal-competition-practises-in-the-internal-market/

Commentary and Analysis
Kluwer Competition Law Blog, March 2017: European Commission aims to make National Competition Authorities more effective http://competitionlawblog.kluwercompetitionlaw.com/2017/03/31/european-commission-aims-to-make-national-competition-authorities-more-effective/
EPRS: Briefing, July 2017: Empowerment of national competition authorities [Initial Appraisal of a European Commission Impact Assessment] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/603260/EPRS_BRI(2017)603260_EN.pdf
EPRS: Briefing, July 2018: Empowering national competition authorities (NCAs) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2017)608816

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