Competition Law Proceedings Before the European Commission and the Right to a Fair Trial: No Need for Reform?

"This paper will thus show that, given the rapid criminalisation of competition law proceedings (section B), the Community enforcement system in competition cases as it currently stands does not comply with Article 6 ECHR. Sanctions should in principle be imposed at first instance by an independent and impartial tribunal fulfilling all the conditions of Article 6 ECHR. Or at the very least, these sanctions should be subject to full jurisdictional review by an independent and impartial tribunal in order to comply with Article 6 ECHR and to cure the defects of the administrative procedure (section C). It is doubtful, however, whether such a full jurisdictional review, as it is understood by the ECtHR, is available at Community-level in antitrust cases."