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A New Brochure Helping Undertakings to Stay Out of
Competition Troubles
*
Att. Zeynep Tuncer
The European Commission (“Commission”) has published on
November 23, 2011, a new Brochure on Compliance Matters
(“Brochure”) in order to help undertakings
1
to better respect European
Union (“EU”) competition rules
2
.
This Brochure summarizes the key competition rules that under-
takings should respect, including the dangers involved in ignoring the
law and sets out practical steps that can be taken to ensure compliance
with these rules.
Undertakings’ Responsibility in Complying with Competition
Rules
EU competition rules applying to undertakings are a fact of daily
business life that has to be reckoned with, because ignorance of the law
will not shield undertakings from the consequences of breaking it.
However, while it is clear that undertakings are under an obligation to
comply with the rules, they are largely free to decide how to go about it.
Costs of Non-Compliance for Undertakings
In case of non-compliance with EU competition rules, both under-
takings and administrators may be confronted to important administra-
tive fines.
Undertakings may also be obliged to indemnify third parties’ dam-
ages which have occurred because of an infringement of competition.
COMPETITION LAW
183
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Article of January 2012
1
The term “undertaking” is the legal jargon of the term “company”. All companies are subject to
competition rules, with no differentiation according to their size.
2
To consult the Brochure, see the following link:
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/compliance/compliance_matters_en.pdf(accessed on
01.01.2012).