European Commission Publishes Internal Procedures Under Articles 101 And 102 TFEU

On 30 March 2012, the European Commission published its Antitrust Manual of Procedures (the so-called "ManProc"), which comprises internal working documents on the procedures concerning the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.

The publication comes as a response to a decision of 3 October 2011 of the European Ombudsman, according to which it was provisionally concluded that the Commission was guilty of maladministration in failing to make at least a partial disclosure of its internal Antitrust Manual of procedures under Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (see VBB on Competition Law, Volume 2011, No. 10, available at www.vbb.com).

The original complaint to the Ombudsman originated in September 2009 when the complainant, a Brussels-based competition lawyer and former Commission official, made a request under Regulation 1049/2001 seeking access to the ManProc. Initially, in January 2010, the Commission had agreed to publish practical guidelines on the conduct of