EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

When carrying out an inspection, competition authorities must take into account the right to enforce a defence against unlawful interference by the entities under investigation. On the other hand, the subjects under investigation are obliged to provide sufficient cooperation in the ongoing inspection. Breaches of good administrative practice or non-compliance by competition authorities with the limits laid down by law and judicial practice may lead to the frustration of the administrative procedure and thus to a breach of the legitimate expectations and legal certainty of competitors. In the event of a breach of procedural rules by the person under investigation, this leads to the imposition of a civil fine, which may also be imposed repeatedly, and consequently the sum of the amount of the procedural fines may be higher than any substantive fine for anti-competitive conduct. A big question of future development is the modification of the existing rules for morning raids, whether at the level of international organizations or groupings in the form of the OECD, ECN, EU or individual nation states in the field of forensic tools for detecting anti-competitive conduct or the use of artificial intelligence means. The same will certainly apply in the case of a change in work behaviour and the way one works due to the higher level of existence of the home office and the solution of health risks during the pandemic. References [1] Authorisation of the President of the Czech competition authority of 3.9.2019, p. no. ÚOHS19351/2019/852/RSk [2] Commission Notice on cooperation within the network of competition authorities. OJ C 101, 27/04/2004 P. 0043-0053 [3] Directive (EU) 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 Decem ber 2018 empowering the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market [4] European Commission, Competition Policy [online]. [cit. 2022-01-09]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/competitionpolicy/system/files/202107/recommendation_pow ers_to_investigate_enforcement_measures_sanctions_09122013_en.pdf [5] European Commission, European Competition Network [online]. [retrieved 2022-01 09]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/competition-policy/european-competition-net work_en [6] Eur-lex [online]. [cit.2021-12-10]. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcon tent/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A52004XC0427%2802%29 [7] Gerloch, A., Tryzna, J., Winter, J. (eds). Methodology of law interpretation and legal certainty. Pilsen: Aleš Čeněk, 2012 497 s. ISBN 978-80-7380-388-9

262