Brussels, 13/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 13 December, the European Commission revised its rules for access to the Commission's files by parties involved in its merger and antitrust cases in order to increase the transparency of competition procedures and underline the Commission's commitment to due process and parties' rights of defence. The revision takes the form of an update to the existing Notice on the rules of procedure for access to the Commission's competition file from 1997, taking into account the revisions to the Merger Regulation, the modernisation of antitrust enforcement and experience gained in applying the former rules. The revised Notice clarifies both the extent and the exercise of the right of access to the file, and increases procedural efficiency by confirming that access to the file can be granted either electronically or on paper. Access to the file is an important procedural step in all contentious antitrust and merger cases. It allows the companies or organisations that receive Statements of Objections (i.e. the Commission's explanation as to why it has reached the preliminary view that the addressees may have broken the competition rules) to see all of the evidence, whether it is incriminating or exonerating, in the Commission's file.