Brussels, 02/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - The crisis has had a significant impact on competition law in the European Union. One lawyer, a specialist in European competition law, said there was a danger of “far fewer cases but at a qualitative level, there will be far more sensitive operations”. He also said that these operations would be sectoral, without simplified procedure, and buck the trend towards fast-track processing. The fundamental principles are not likely to change but the essential question is one of whether their application will significantly evolve and action is taken.
In the current context, banks and states are taking action that would be unacceptable if carried out by individual players. Consumer protection in competition is still the greatest concern but jobs must also be protected.
State aid authorisation decisions have proceeded through three different phases since the beginning of the financial crisis: 1) decisions taken in panic - in October, November and December 2008, in order to safeguard the system, but they have proved to have had limited impact; 2) decisions on access to credit and finance to tackle the credit crunch; 3) decisions now being taken following requests from banks. Pressure, this time, however, is less intense than previously and the Commission has a little more time.
One specialist lawyer said “the Commission has not changed an iota on cartels since the beginning of the crisis”. A company experiencing difficulty in paying a fine will not have a fine suspended. Another lawyer said that “nine out of ten cartels are detected after a demand for immunity”. The Commission finds it very difficult to detect cartels and in the clemency system, it will detect very few of them. Even though amends have increased, there are still cartels. According to one competition law expert, the best deterrent is the threat of prison. Prisons sentences already exist in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Germany. Clemency is having a perverse effect because some companies exaggerate or invent cartels when there has only been an exchange of information. The same legal expert stated that “this is the criminal domain without having the guarantee of prison sentences”. (E.M./transl.rh)