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ARTICLE · 15 JUNE 2011

Antitrust Alert: EC Announces Reforms To EU Antitrust Procedures - Welcome Changes, But "Too Little"

Jones Day
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In a 30 May 2011 speech, the EU Commissioner for competition policy, Joaquín Almunia, announced a series of changes to EU antitrust procedures, with a view to providing parties under investigation with more transparency into European Commission (EC) investigations.

European UnionAntitrust/Competition Law
Jones Day
Jones Day
Scott McInnes
Scott McInnes
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In a 30 May 2011 speech, the EU Commissioner for competition policy, Joaquín Almunia, announced a series of changes to EU antitrust procedures, with a view to providing parties under investigation with more transparency into European Commission (EC) investigations. These changes follow announcements that the Commissioner has made, relating in particular to fines, private enforcement and oral hearings. The new changes are welcome, but there remain significant challenges for businesses that are the subject of EU antitrust proceedings.

Announcements from the Commissioner

Following criticism and increasing calls from legal and business communities for the EC to respect fundamental rights of defence and to guarantee "due process" to parties under investigation, the Commissioner had announced, in a series of speeches in 2010, that a number of procedural changes were going to take place. (For a discussion of prior EC announcements, see our antitrust alert of November

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