BOOK IV: Free pricing and competition.

Investigations and proceedings before the Competition Authority shall be adversarial, subject to the provisions of Articles L. 463-4 and L. 464-10. Practices referred to the Competition Authority may be established by any method of proof.

Without prejudice to the measures provided for in Article L. 464-1, the General Rapporteur or a Deputy General Rapporteur appointed by him shall notify the objections to the interested parties and to the Government Commissioner, who may consult the file subject to the provisions of Article L. 463-4 and submit their observations within a period of two months. The companies to which the objections are addressed shall inform the rapporteur…

The General Rapporteur of the French Competition Authority may decide that the case will be examined by the Authority without the prior preparation of a report. He shall inform the parties and the Government Commissioner of this prior to the notification of the grievances. In this case, if the combined turnover achieved in France during the last closed financial year of all the parties exceeds €200 million and if at…

Except in cases where the communication or consultation of these documents is necessary for the exercise of the rights of defence of a defendant, the General Rapporteur of the Autorité de la concurrence may refuse to allow a party to communicate or consult documents or certain elements contained in these documents involving the business secrecy of other persons. In such cases, a non-confidential version and a summary of the documents…

Investigating and trial courts may provide the Competition Authority, at its request, with investigation reports or other criminal investigation documents that are directly related to the facts before the Authority.

The penalties laid down in Article 226-13 of the Criminal Code, the disclosure by one of the parties of information concerning another party or a third party and of which it was only able to become aware as a result of the communications or consultations that were carried out. The preceding paragraph does not apply where disclosure is made in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III of Title VIII…

The meetings of the Competition Authority are not public. Only the parties and the Government Commissioner may attend. The parties may ask to be heard by the Authority and be represented or assisted. The Competition Authority may hear any person whose hearing it considers likely to contribute to its information. The general rapporteur, or the deputy general rapporteur appointed by him, and the Government Commissioner may submit observations. The general…

The general rapporteur may decide to call in experts in the event of a request made at any time during the investigation by the rapporteur or a party. This decision is not subject to appeal. The expert’s mission and the time limit given to him are specified in the decision appointing him. The expert appraisal shall be carried out in an adversarial manner. The cost of the expert appraisal shall…