Directive (EU) 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Guarantees for the Protection of the Fundamental Rights of a Party to Anti-Monopoly Proceedings in Poland: Selected Issues

• Published in: Białostockie Studia Prawnicze Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 165 - 179
• Main Authors: Piszcz, Anna, Knapp, Magdalena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 01.12.2023
• Subjects: competition authority; Directive 2019/1; ECN+ Directive; fundamental rights; guarantees; President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection
• ISSN: 2719-9452; 2719-9452
• DOI: 10.15290/bsp.2023.28.04.10

This article presents how Chapter 2 of Directive (EU) 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the ECN+ Directive) has been transposed into Polish law. This Chapter refers to the fundamental rights of undertakings in proceedings concerning infringements of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. The article discusses selected issues related to the correctness of the transposing legislation. It formulates a critical assessment of the content of the Polish legislation and proposes how these provisions could be amended. The authors conclude that even in areas where Chapter 2 is quite self-explanatory, the legislation, being excessively restrained, needed a different approach from the legislature. Next, the scope of the transposing provisions related to the right to be heard, legal professional privilege and privilege against self-incrimination is too narrow, and in the case of the statement of objections, what was done is ‘false’ implementation.