TITLE IV: Transparency, restrictive competition practices and other prohibited practices.

The commission for the examination of commercial practices instituted by Article L. 440-1 is placed under the Minister responsible for the economy.

The Commission d’examen des pratiques commerciales is made up of one deputy and one senator as well as twenty-four full members and sixteen alternate members distributed as follows: 1° One honorary magistrate from the administrative order, one honorary magistrate from the judicial order and one commercial court judge, from among whom the vice-chairman of the commission is appointed if the chairman is not a member of a court. The vice-chairman…

The appointment of the members of the administrative and judicial jurisdictions, within the commission for the examination of commercial practices, is respectively made on the proposal of the vice-president of the Council of State and the Minister of Justice. The appointment of the members of the administrative and judicial jurisdictions, within the commission for the examination of commercial practices, is respectively made on the proposal of the vice-president of the…

When examining a particular area of activity, the Trade Practices Review Board may call a representative of the suppliers and a representative of the distributors in the area of activity in question to sit in an advisory capacity.

The review boards set up within the Trade Practices Review Commission are chaired by a magistrate and include an equal number of representatives of producers and distributors.

The chairman of the Trade Practices Review Commission may appoint one or more rapporteurs on the basis of their expertise. The commission’s secretariat is provided by the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control.

The Trade Practices Review Commission shall draw up rules of procedure setting out its operating procedures. These rules shall be approved by the Minister responsible for the economy.

The Trade Practices Review Commission may decide to publish the opinions it adopts.

The meetings of the Trade Practices Review Board are not public. The investigators referred to in the sixth paragraph of Article L. 440-1 may attend meetings of the commission when matters are being examined in the investigation of which they have, at the request of the commission, given their assistance.

The Commercial Practices Review Board may only validly deliberate in the presence of half of its members plus one.