On 17 January 2011, the French Competition Authority (the
'Authority') published draft guidelines for setting
antitrust fines.
These are intended to increase the transparency and
predictability of antitrust fines and to allow a balance to be
struck between their deterrent effect and their proportionality to
the infringement they sanction.
In practice, the Authority shall set a basic amount varying
between 0 and 30% of the value of the sales generated by the
undertaking's infringement. The variation will depend on the
gravity of the infringement and the economic harm the infringement
causes.
The Authority will then modify this amount taking into account
(i) the individual behaviour of the undertaking, (for example, the
amount will decrease if the undertaking was forced to infringe
antitrust rules and increase if it played a leading role) and (ii)
the objective situation of the undertaking, such as its size, the
fact that it operates only on one market, or that it
