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Wils, Wouter P.J. --- "Is Criminalisation of EU Competition Law the Answer?" [2010] ELECD 242; in Zäch, Roger; Heinemann, Andreas; Kellerhals, Andreas (eds), "The Development of Competition Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: The Development of Competition Law

Editor(s): Zäch, Roger; Heinemann, Andreas; Kellerhals, Andreas

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848444461

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Is Criminalisation of EU Competition Law the Answer?

Author(s): Wils, Wouter P.J.

Number of pages: 50

Extract:

10. Is Criminalisation of EU
Competition Law the Answer?
Wouter P.J. Wils*

1 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY `CRIMINALISATION'?

1.1 No Definition of `Criminal' in EC or EU law

Article 23(5) of Regulation No 1/2003,1 the main regulation governing
the enforcement of Articles 81 and 82 EC, provides that decisions by which
the European Commission imposes fines on undertakings for violations of
Articles 81 and 82 EC, or for obstruction of investigations into possible
violations, `shall not be of a criminal law nature'.2 The last sentence of
Recital 8 of the same Regulation says that `this Regulation does not apply
to national laws which impose criminal sanctions on natural persons
except to the extent that such sanctions are the means whereby competi-
tion rules applicable to undertakings are enforced'.3
The EU Treaty has a Title VI concerning `Provisions on police and
judicial co-operation in criminal matters'. Article 30(a) EU provides that
common action in the field of police co-operation shall include operational
co-operation in relation to the prevention, detection and investigation of
`criminal offences'. Article 31 EU provides for common action on judicial


* Member of the Legal Service of the European Commission, Brussels,
Belgium, Visiting Professor at King's College London.
1 Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the imple-

mentation of the rules of competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty
[2003] OJ L1/1. This regulation has replaced, ...