ECJ Competition – Statement of objections – Access to the file – Admissibility. Actions for annulment of measures Actionable measures Definition Measures producing binding legal effects Administrative procedure implementing the competition rules. Refusal to notify the full statement of objections to an undertaking concerned and to give it access to the entire file. Preparatory measure Excluded Rights of the defence Possible breach which might be relied upon in support of an action brought against the final decision of the Commission (EEC Treaty, Art. 173; Council Regulation No 17; Commission Regulation No 99/63) – The measures by which the Commission refused, in an administrative procedure implementing the competition rules, first to notify part of the statement of objections to the undertakings concerned and, secondly, to give them access to all the documents making up their files are not capable of producing legal effects of such a nature as to affect the interests of those undertakings before the adoption of any decision finding that the rules of the Treaty have been infringed. They are accordingly merely procedural measures preparatory to the decision that will constitute the final stage of the administrative procedure established by Regulations Nos 17 and 99/63 and cannot, as such, form the subject matter of an action for annulment under Article 173 of the Treaty. Although compliance with the rights of the defence in any procedure which might result in the imposition of a penalty constitutes a fundamental principle of Community law that must be complied with in every circumstance, the possible infringement of those rights by way of refusal to grant access to the file remains within the bounds of the prior administrative procedure in which it takes place. Were the Community judicature, in proceedings directed against a decision bringing the procedure to a close, to recognize that a full right of access to the file existed and had been infringed and therefore to annul the said decision for infringement of the rights of the defence, the entire procedure would be vitiated by illegality. In such a case the Commission should either abandon the proceedings or resume the procedure, ensuring that the rights previously disregarded were observed.
Citations:
T-10/92, [1992] EUECJ T-10/92
Links:
Jurisdiction:
European
Commercial
Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.172545
