EC競争法の分権的執行

Abstract

At the time of the fifth enlargement of the European Union on 1 May 2004, the competition rules of the European Community underwent the most fundamental and significant changes since they came into existence in 1958, both in terms of substantive and procedural rules. These unprecedented changes, called “modernisation” by the European Commission, are characterised by abolishing the prior notification system under Article 81 of the EC Treaty and introducing the decentralised enforcement regime under the new procedural regulation (Council Regulation No 1/2003). The Regulation provides a system under which the competition rules are enforced in co-operation by the Commission and the national competition authorities (NCAs) on the one hand, and by the Commission and national courts on the other.This paper first summarises the background to the introduction of the decentralised enforcement regime, followed by a discussion of the related rules under Regulation 1/2003. It then analyses the decentralised system from a statistical view point, as well as in the light of other related rules (including a series of the Commission notices). The author concludes that the new regime has, until now, worked relatively well under the European Competition Network, composed of the Commission and the NCAs. In fact, some 500 cases were handled under the Network during the first 2 years and 7 months, yet no conflicting cases have been reported.However, it is too early to conclude that the current system leaves nothing to be desired; indeed there remain several questions to be answered. First, the Commission and NCAs are requested to interpret and apply the competition rules in a consistent manner throughout the Common Market. In this regard, it is expected that a uniform leniency programme will be adopted by all NCAs in the near future in order to provide all undertakings with the same opportunity of immunity from fines regardless of the first national competition authority which they report to. Second, the importance of the accountability and legitimacy of the enforcement of the competition rules should not be overlooked under the decentralised regime, where a number of different authorities are, by their nature, liable to be isolated from democratic or parliamentary control.It is hoped that the new decentralised regime will surmount the above obstacles and realise the effective enforcement of the competition rules throughout the enlarged Union.