European Community Competition Law procedure and the European Convention of Human Rights

• Main Author: Dimgba, Nnamdi
• Published: University of the West of England, Bristol 2005
• Subjects: 342.24085
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.418422

This thesis is concerned with the subject of human rights protection in the field of European Community competition law. In particular, it looks at the cOlnpliance of Community competition law procedure with the European Convention on Human Rights. This subject is considered not only interesting but also necessary for at least two reasons. The first is the fact that even though the COlnn1unity is not a party to the Convention, all the Member States are on their own parties to it. These Member States are often saddled with the obligation of implementing Community sanctions on undertakings for violations of the con1petition rules. If the procedure for arriving at those sanctions is not compliant with the Convention, to what extent then could these Member States assist in enforcing the sanctions in keeping with their obligations under Community law, and still operate within their obligations under the Convention? The second is the fact that undertakings consistently raise Convention points and defences even before the Comn1unity Courts, notwithstanding the fact that the Community is not a party to the Convention. To what extent then are they entitled to do so? The answer must be tied to the question of the extent to which the Convention is a part of Community law. At the root of the whole problem are the enormous and multiple responsibilities which the Commission dispenses in the enforcement of cOlnpetition law. These responsibilities are considered, at least by both undertakings and commentators, to be quite contradictory in the sense that the Commission adorns different garbs such as that of policy-making, investigation, prosecution and decisionmaking, almost simultaneously. This thesis discusses these issues. It calls for a major change to the way competition law is enforced in the Comn1unity. This major change is to comprise of two components, an external and an internal one. Externally, it calls for the Community's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights, in order to bring the Community institutions, including the Courts, to the supervisory control of the European Court of Hmnan Rights. This would, at least symbolically, raise the overall level of hun1an rights protection in competition law. The internal component would consist of breaking the cumulative powers of the Commission and the transfer of first instance decision-making power to a judicial organ, either to the Court of First Instance, or to a court to be specially set up for competition law. This last component would raise, not just symbolically, but also in real terms, the level and perception of human rights protection in Community competition law procedure.