EU Competition: Consultation On New Transparency And Predictability Guidance

On 6 January 2010 the European Commission published guidance aimed at providing companies with further certainty and transparency about the relationship between them and the European Commission during EU competition law (also known as antitrust) cases. Such cases involve the EU prohibitions on restrictive agreements and on abuse of dominance. The guidance does not apply to state aid cases or merger cases (apart from in relation to submission of economic evidence). Issues covered by the guidance include publicity regarding the opening and closing of competition cases as well as rejection of complaints about breaches of competition law.

The guidance comprises three documents:

• Best practices for antitrust proceedings (ec.europa.eu/competition/consultations/2010_best_practices/best_practice_articles.pdf);