Art. 12C Commitments. — COMPETITION ACT

(1)

Instead of delivering a judgement finding an

infringement pursuant to article 13(1), the Court may issue a

judgement declaring commitments offered by the undertaking and, or

the association of undertakings concerned involved in a suspected

infringement to be binding on them, if the commitments are such as

to bring the suspected infringement to an end and where those

commitments meet the competition concerns expressed in that case

Provided that when delivering such judgement, the Court

shall not impose any penalty and shall not specify as to whether there

has been an infringement of articles 5, and, or 9 of the Act and, or

Articles 101 and, or 102 of the TFEU.

(2)

Commitments shall not be applicable where the suspected

infringement concerns secret cartels or any other agreements,

COMPETITION

decisions or concerted practices which involve price fixing, market

sharing or output limitation

Provided that in all other cases, the Court shall make a

case by case assessment, after taking into consideration all the

submissions of the parties to the proceedings, and any third party

comments as provided in sub-article (5) as to whether commitments

are the most appropriate measures to address the suspected

infringement in the case at issue.

(3) The judgement may specify that those commitments may

be adopted for a specific period of time and shall conclude that there

are no longer grounds for action that can be taken by the Director

General against the undertaking, and, or association of undertakings

concerned.

(4) Where the Court intends to deliver a judgement under

sub-article (1) and accepts the commitments proposed, it shall seek

the views of market participants by publishing a concise summary of

the case and the main contents of the commitments or of the

proposed course of action on the Gazette, having regard to the

legitimate interests of the undertakings as well as the protection of

business secrets or other confidential information

Provided that the Director General may request the

authorisation of the Court to seek the views of market participants or

of any other third parties by informing them directly regarding the

proposed commitments, which request shall also include the

authorization of the Court on the manner in which the said proposed

commitments are to be published and the time within which all views

of market participants or of any other third parties should be received

in the registry of the Court.

(5) Any interested party may submit their observations in the

records of the case within the time limit fixed by the Court in its

publication

Provided that the Director General and the undertaking

and, or association of undertakings concerned shall be notified and

given a copy of the third party comments.

(6) The Court shall reopen the proceedings upon a sworn

application by the Director General only where

(a) there has been a material change in any of the facts on

which the judgment was based; or

(b) the undertaking and, or association of undertakings

concerned acted contrary to its commitments; or

(c) the judgment was based on incomplete, incorrect, or

misleading information provided by the undertaking,

and, or association of undertakings concerned.

COMPETITION

(7) The Office shall have the powers to monitor the effective

implementation of the commitments referred to in sub-article (1) or

in article 17 and for this purpose, article 12 shall apply mutatis

mutandis.

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