Eu Competition Enforcement And Human Rights

by Arianna, Andreangeli

• ISBN13: 9781847206329
• ISBN10: 1847206328
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-30
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub

Summary

This book discusses the procedural rights enjoyed by those being investigated under Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty and of the Merger Control Regulation, and their right to challenge the Commission's decision in the Community Courts. It further assesses how their rights to 'due process' in competition proceedings before the European Commission comply with the notion of 'administrative fairness' enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, in accordance with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. In this study, Arianna Andreangeli takes into account key developments such as modernisation and its impact on competition proceedings before the Commission, the debate on the principles of legal professional privilege, the protection against self incrimination, the rule of ne bis in idem and the possibility of establishing an 'EU competition court'. It offers an examination of the right to be heard, the right to have access to the Commission-held evidence, and to legal professional privilege, and the right to silence and to seek judicial review of Commission decisions and assess them in the light of the Strasbourg court's case law. Academics active in the area of competition law, EU law and human rights, as well as practitioners active in the area of competition law will find much to interest them in this book.

Author Biography

Arianna Andreangeli is a Lecturer in Law at Liverpool Law School, University of Liverpool, UK.

Table of Contents

Table of cases
Table of legislation
Introduction	p. 1
Introduction: aims and objectives	p. 1
The role of the Commission in competition enforcement: a problem of fairness	p. 2
Outline: the protection of human rights in EC law and competition proceedings: general issues	p. 6
The development of fundamental rights standards in the Community context: perspectives from the ECJ	p. 6
EC fundamental rights principles and the European Convention on Human Rights: the view from Strasbourg	p. 10
Human rights and business entities: the reach of the European Convention on Human Rights in the corporate context	p. 15
Competition enforcement and the reach of Article 6(1) of the ECHR: the nature of the antitrust and merger proceedings in EC law	p. 23
The right to be heard in EC competition proceedings between 'administrative due process' and a right to a 'fair trial'	p. 31
Introduction	p. 31
The light to be heard in EC competition proceedings: from the 'general principles of law' to the Implementing Regulations	p. 31
The right to be heard in administrative proceedings having a 'civil' or 'criminal' nature under the ECHR: the application of Article 6(1)	p. 51
'Administrative fairness' and competition proceedings: the Commission's enforcement action and Article 6 (1)	p. 55
Access to the evidence in competition proceedings as a 'right of the defence' between professional secrecy and 'equality of arms'	p. 62
Introduction	p. 62
The function and the legal basis of the right of access to the file	p. 63
The scope of the right of access to the file in antitrust and merger proceedings	p. 65
Ensuring the effective exercise of right of access to the file: the role of the Hearing Officer	p. 82
The disclosure of evidence gathered in the course of 'administrative' procedure under the ECHR: a principle of 'equality of arms' Strasbourg style?	p. 86
The right of access to the Commission's file in the light of the ECHR: tentative conclusions	p. 90
Protection against forced disclosure of 'sensitive evidence': the legal professional privilege and the privilege against self-incrimination in EC competition investigations and procedure	p. 92
Introduction	p. 92
The confidential treatment of lawyer-client correspondence in EC law	p. 93
The protection of lawyer-client confidentiality in the European Convention on Human Rights	p. 115
Legal professional privilege in EC law and in the ECHR: towards a redefinition of A.M. & S.?	p. 119
The privilege against self-incrimination in EC competition proceedings	p. 123
Privilege against self-incrimination in EC law and in the European Convention: in search of consistency?	p. 142
Lawyer-client confidentiality and privilege against self-incrimination in EC law and in the ECHR: tentative conclusions	p. 149
Judicial review of competition decisions: a guarantee of fairness in EC competition enforcement?	p. 152
Introduction	p. 152
Judicial review of competition decisions in EC law: access to the Luxembourg courts and scope for judicial scrutiny	p. 154
Judicial control of non-judicial decisions having a 'criminal' and 'civil' character according to Article 6(1) ECHR: what are the requirements of a 'full jurisdiction'?	p. 178
Judicial review of EC competition decisions and the Convention: differing standards?	p. 184
'Due process' in competition proceedings: from 'centralisation' to Modernisation	p. 188
The Modernisation of the enforcement of Articles 81 and 82 EC Treaty and the right to a 'fair procedure'	p. 189
Introduction	p. 189
The main characteristics of the new framework for the enforcement of Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty: the European Competition Network	p. 190
Case allocation and Community 'due process' in competition proceedings	p. 192
The exchange of information within the ECN and the protection of fundamental rights. The case of legal professional privilege	p. 199
Decentralised application of Articles 81 and 82 EC Treaty in the face of national autonomy as regards procedures and sanctions and its consequences for the position of the investigated undertakings	p. 206
The Modernisation of enforcement of EC competition law: what future for the rights of defence?	p. 219
Conclusions. Regulation 1/2003 and NCAs: towards new (judicial) challenges'?	p. 223
Conclusions: 'Article 6-proofing' EC competition proceedings?	p. 224
Introduction	p. 224
Human Rights and EU competition enforcement: towards a new EU 'due process' clause?	p. 226
Is a 'Competition Court' the response to the needs of the new 'EU due process clause'? The pros and cons of a 'jurisdiction on the merits' in antitrust enforcement	p. 235
Redesigning DG Competition: a separate investigative task force for antitrust cases?	p. 238
Conclusions: the future of Community 'due process' in competition cases	p. 244
Bibliography	p. 246
Index	p. 261
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.