The European Commission intends to protect individuals who report to it the existence of cartels or other anti-competitive practices. On Thursday 16 March, it announced that it had launched a new tool to guarantee anonymity for its whistleblowers.
In practice, this will take the form of a special encrypted messaging system allowing communication in both directions and that will relate the content of messages received without including the meta data, which may be used to identify the persons providing the information. The new system will therefore allow individuals to ask the Commission to reply to their messages and allow the European institution to ask for clarification and details. It also aims to improve the precision and reliability of the information received to allow the Commission to open an investigation.
To date, most cartels have been revealed under the Commission's leniency programme, which allows businesses to report their own participation in a cartel in exchange for a reduction of the fine handed down to them.
The new system increases the possibilities of cartels being detected and action being taken and will therefore serve as a deterrent to companies entering into or remaining in cartels or practising other types of illegal anti-competitive behaviour. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)