The fight against cartels is now one of the top priorities of all competition authorities who are very active and innovating to improve enforcement and deterrence. Within the EU, one of these innovations has been the EU cartel settlement procedure, first established in 2008. In short, it gives the parties the possibility to close a cartel case quicker and receive a fine within a range accepted by each party with a 10% reduction, in exchange of recognizing their infringement and their liability and cooperating with the Commission to expedite and finalise the case. The paper analyses key issues and draw lessons from the almost ten years of practice.
The fight against cartels is now one of the top priorities of all competition authorities who are very active and innovating to improve enforcement and deterrence. Within the EU, one of these innovations has been the EU cartel settlement procedure, first established in 2008. In short, it gives the parties the possibility to close a cartel case quicker and receive a fine within a range accepted by each party with a 10% reduction, in exchange of recognizing their infringement and their liability and cooperating with the Commission to expedite and finalise the case. The paper analyses key issues and draw lessons from the almost ten years of practice.