Brussels, 24/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the functioning of the Council Regulation (1/2003) that sets out the rules for the Commission's enforcement of EC Treaty antitrust rules. This Regulation, in force since 1 May 2004, also entrusts national competition authorities and courts with the role of applying these rules, meaning that there is wide-spread enforcement of the same set of rules to prosecute cartels and other anti-competitive practices. The Commission will use the results of the consultation to prepare the report, which should be presented to the European Parliament and the Council by 1 May 2009. Interested parties are invited to submit their comments by 30 September 2008 at the latest. The Commission welcomes comments from the business community and their representatives as well as other stakeholders who have had direct experience of the implementation of Regulation 1/2003, including courts, industry associations and consumer associations. The questionnaire for stakeholders is published on the Commission's website at: http: //ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/consultations/open.html. (A.B./trans/rh)