EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

Prague, Czechia

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

application of the competition rules. This means also that the previous statute of limitations as a whole achieved the necessary balance and was regulated and interpreted in accordance with the relevant findings of the Whiteland judgement. Concerning the Kilpailu case, the authors were unable to identify any cases where the OPC tried to directly or indirectly artificially extend the duration of the infringement period in order to allow prosecution of the respective offence. The authors thus came to the conclusion that neither the OPC nor the relevant Czech Administrative Courts interpret the date at which the infringement was committed or in respect to continuing or repeated infringements the date at which such an infringement ceased contrary to the conclusions made by the CJEU in Kilpailu . Based on the summarisation of thorough research of the current and previous Czech statute of limitations applicable with regard to the imposition of fines and penalties in Czech competition law, the authors conclude that the current and previous legal regulation of the relevant statute of limitation in Czech competition law complies with the requirements of the relevant CJEU case law, in particular with the Whiteland and Kilpailu judgments. References [1] Act No. 143/2001 Sb., on Protection of Competition and on Amendments to Certain Acts, as amended. [2] Act. No. 150/2002 Sb., Administrative Procedure Code, as amended. [3] Act No. 183/2017 Sb., amending certain acts in connection with the adoption of the Act on Liability for Offences and Proceedings Thereof and the Act on Certain Offences. [4] Act No. 250/2016 Sb., on Liability for Administrative Offences and Proceedings Thereof, as amended. [5] Blažo, O. (2012). What Do Limitation Periods for Sanctions in Antitrust Matters Re ally Limit?. Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, Vol. 2012, 5 (7), pp. 79–103. [6] Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty. OJ L 1, 4 January 2003, pp. 1–25. [7] Dunne, N. (2016). Convergence in competition fining practices in the EU. Common Market Law Review , Vol 53 No 2, pp. 453–492. [8] Frese, M. (2016). Sanctions in EU Competition Law . Oxford: Hart Publishing Ltd. [9] Jones, A. and Sufrin, B. (2016). EU Competition Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [10] Judgement of the Court of Justice of 21 September 1989, Commission v Greece (68/88), EU:C:1989:339, para 24. [11] Judgement of the Court of Justice of 11 June 2009, Inspecteur van de Belastingdienst v. X BV (C-429/07), EU:C:2009:359, paras 36–38.

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