Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Competition - Administrative procedure - Request for information - Need for the existence of a connection between the information requested and the infringement under investigation

(Council Regulation No 17, Art. 11(1) and (3))

2. Competition - Administrative procedure - Professional secrecy - Obligation on the competent authorities of Member States to observe the confidentiality of information sent by the Commission - Breach of the principle of proportionality arising from the risk of disclosure within the national administration of information obtained by the Commission from an undertaking by means of a request for information - Absence

(Council Regulation No 17, Arts 10(1), 11 and 20)

Summary

1. In the context of the administrative procedure for ascertaining whether there has been an infringement of the competition rules, the only information which the Commission may require an undertaking to disclose is information which may enable it to investigate putative infringements which justify the conduct of the investigation and are set out in the request for information. It follows from the combined effect of Article 11(1) and (3) of Regulation No 17 and from the requirements relating to regard for the right to a fair hearing of the undertakings concerned that the criterion of necessity laid down in Article 11 must be assessed according to the purpose of the investigation, which must be stated in the request for information itself.

The requirement that there must exist a correlation between the request for information and the putative infringement must be considered to be satisfied, since at that stage in the proceeding the request may legitimately be regarded as having a connection with the putative infringement.

2. The provisions of Article 20 of Regulation No 17, which prohibit, first, the disclosure of information acquired as a result of the application of that regulation and of the kind covered by the obligation of professional secrecy and, secondly, the use of such information for any purpose other than that for which it has been requested, are intended to ensure the confidential treatment of information transmitted to Member States as a result of the application of Article 10(1) of Regulation No 17.

Those provisions preclude the disclosure of information not only outside the national administration of a Member State but also to anyone in the departments of the national administration apart from those in charge and the officials or other servants of the competent departments dealing with competition matters. It follows that an undertaking cannot claim to avoid a request for information sent to it by the Commission pursuant to Article 11 of Regulation No 17 by invoking a breach of the principle of proportionality arising from the risk that the documents sought from it may circulate between different administrative departments of a Member State, which could use them to the detriment of its commercial interests.