The legitimacy of EU competition fines – a structural comparison of European and national criminal investigation mechanisms (by Oliver Jany)

The fines imposed by the Commission have tremendously increased in recent years. Some scholars argue that they have always been or at least become “some sort of criminal law”. However, the extent and scope to which this results in criminal procedural safeguards being applied to the undertakings concerned remains unclear. Thus, I want to analyse the investigation mechanisms of the Commission according to the directive 1/2003 and compare the standard of legitimacy with all its constitutional and procedural safeguards with some national investigation mechanisms in order to establish a basis for a comparison of the level of protection provided within the European Union with regard to competition fines.

Researcher

Mr. Oliver Jany – Oliver.Jany@rwi.uzh.ch

University of Zürich