On 24 November 2022, Luxembourg enacted a new law on competition (“Law”), aiming to overhaul the current competition legislation and transpose into Luxembourg law Directive (EU) 2019/1 to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market (“Directive”). The Law repeals and replaces the law on competition of 23 October 2011.
Why is it important? The Law transforms both the internal organisation and the statute of the Competition Council (Conseil de la concurrence). It becomes an “établissement public” and will be renamed “National Competition Authority” (Autorité de concurrence du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, the “Authority”). In addition, the Law modifies the powers of the Authority during the investigation phase as well as certain other elements of procedure, such as those concerning the content and handling of complaints, the Authority’s duty to state reasons and the availability of appeals to different types of decisions. It also provides for the possibility of a settlement in competition proceedings and specifies the conditions for leniency. Certain elements of procedure applied in practice are now formalised in the Law.
Impact?
