COMPETITION : EU EXEC SEEKS TO IMPROVE ANTI-TRUST PROCEDURES.

The European Commission plans to announce systematically and publicly the opening and closure of its investigations of concerted agreements and abuse of dominant position by companies, which is not the case today. This is one of the measures found in three documents that detail the way its anti-trust procedures work. The aim of the texts - which apply provisionally as from their publication, on 6 January - is to further increase the transparency and predictability of proceedings, explains the executive. The Commission has been criticised for lack of clarity in its anti-trust investigations.

Stakeholders are invited to submit their observations on the documents within eight weeks with a view to possible adjustments. The three papers are published by DG Competition(1)

- Best practices in anti-trust proceedings' sets out changes in important aspects of such procedures, in particular earlier opening of proceedings, as soon as the initial assessment phase has been concluded; state of play meetings for the parties at key points of the proceedings; disclosure of key submissions; public announcement of the opening and closure of procedures and the sending of statements of objections; and guidance on how the new instrument of commitment procedures is used in practice.

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