Two and a half years after the creation of the
settlement procedure, the French Competition Authority (hereinafter
the "Authority") published on 27 December 2018 its
procedural notice on the conditions for implementing the settlement
procedure (the "Notice")1.
The settlement procedure, which resulted from the "loi
Macron" of 6 August 20152, replaced the "no
contest of objections" procedure, which allowed the Authority
to reduce the penalty, at its discretion, in return for the waiver
of the right to contest the notified objections. Thanks to the
transaction, the company that waives the right to contest the
objections can now "bargain" the amount of its penalty:
this company will obtain a financial penalty within a range
proposed by the General Rapporteur and agreed by the parties.
