Research On The E.C. Competition Rules Enforcement System

Competition law is the basic rule of modern market economy, and scientific establishment of competition law enforcement system including the enforcement authority, the reasonable definition of its responsibilities and its suitable procedure are important issues in the competition law legislation.In this article, the author takes a deep analysis into the E.C antitrust enforcement system, which includes the EC Commission procedure, the judicial review procedure by Court of Justice, the enforcement by national courts and national competition authorities. In this system, EC Commission is the central competition enforcement authority, and it has direct powers to investigate and order the termination of infringement of the EC competition rules. The Commission procedure includes the enforcement procedure of Articles 81 and 82 of EC Treaty, the merger control procedure, the proceedings against member states and the extraterritorial enforcement. The European Court of Justice, including Court of Justice and Court for First Instance, being the judicial authority of EC, review the appeals against Commission decisions addressed to individual firms or associations accounting for the major part of the Court's work in this area. National courtsand national competition authorities are also the enforcement agencies of EC competition law. National courts provide the private remedy to private firms and individuals invoking Article 81 and 82 in the civil litigation. National authorities also have the power to enforce EC competition law cooperating with EC Commission.With the enlargement of EU and the increasing number of competition cases, EC Commission can not burden the heavy task and EC Council promulgated the Regulation 1/2003, which is divided into four parts: the abolition of the notification and individual exemption contained in Regulation 17, the uniform application of EC Competition law, the powers of the Commission, and the new system of co-operation instituted by Regulation 1/2003.The present competition law of China is separated in many rules and it is short of a uniform and integrated competition law enforcement system. So China should take into account in establishing its counterpart referring to that of EC combining with its practical situation. The competition authority should be specially established with the name of the Competition Commission, and meanwhile be empowered the corresponding authority including the decisional powers, the investigatory powers and the penal powers. Also the suitable procedure including the Commission procedure and the enforcement by the court should be established with an emphasis on the rights of parties, the transparency and efficiency of it.The appropriate enforcement system of the competition law not only ensures the effective implement of the competition substantial rules, but also promotes the development of the uniform market, the establishment of the market-economy system and the increase of the economy.