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Ehlermann, Claus-Dieter --- "Criminal Competition Law Enforcement: Taking Stock on the Debate" [2006] ELECD 448; in Cseres, J. Katalin; Schinkel, Pieter Maarten; Vogelaar, O.W. Floris (eds), "Criminalization of Competition Law Enforcement" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Criminalization of Competition Law Enforcement

Editor(s): Cseres, J. Katalin; Schinkel, Pieter Maarten; Vogelaar, O.W. Floris

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845426088

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Criminal Competition Law Enforcement: Taking Stock on the Debate

Author(s): Ehlermann, Claus-Dieter

Number of pages: 9

Extract:

2. Criminal competition law
enforcement: taking stock on the
debate
Claus-Dieter Ehlermann

1 SUBJECT MATTER OF INTRODUCTION

When Professor Vogelaar invited me to this conference, I accepted because
criminalization is an old personal `hobby' of mine. I have to admit, however,
to never having done any serious research in the field of sanctions and in
particular criminal law sanctions. Nor have I ever participated in any policy
debate on criminalization (neither at EU nor at Member State level). Finally,
I do not have extensive experience with leniency programmes (neither at
EU level, nor as a practising lawyer). My most relevant experience for this
conference is a Competition Law and Policy Workshop organized at the EUI
in Florence in June 2001.1 On reflecting on the most valuable contribution
that I could bring to this particular conference, I thought that it would be to
(a) build a bridge between the June 2001 Workshop and today's conference;
(b) compare the situation in June 2001 with the situation today; and (c)
speculate about the probable evolution of the law and of attitudes in the
years to come.


2 THE EUI WORKSHOP IN FLORENCE IN JUNE 2001

The June 2001 EUI Workshop centred on private enforcement of
competition law. Criminalization occupied only 20 per cent of the time
and was somewhat extraneous to the main subject of the workshop. I got
interested in criminalization of competition law as a result of my past
personal experiences in the Commission, first as Head of ...