AttorneysEd Center

If your practice involves the representation of companies with operations in the European Union, you won’t want to miss this important program by Vanessa Edwards, a partner in the London office of K&L Gates LLP. Our presenter covers recent EU developments in ethics and hot topics in antirust law, including:

• Legal Professional Privilege: Akzo Nobel v. Commission (Court of Justice of the EU’s September 14, 2010 judgment concerning the extent of legal professional privilege). This important judgment addressed the question of whether communications between a company and its in-house legal advisers are covered by privilege in the context of an EU antitrust investigation.

• New Draft Horizontal Guidelines: In May 2010 the Commission published draft guidelines applicable to horizontal co-operation agreements to update the Commission's original guidelines that were adopted in 2000. The draft guidelines present an analytical framework that is intended to assist businesses in self-assessing the compatibility of any given horizontal cooperation agreement. A new section regarding assessment of information exchanges between competitors has been introduced, as has a substantially revised and updated section on standard setting arrangements. The guidelines provide a valuable insight into the approach the Commission will have in analysing horizontal cooperation.

• Simplified Procedure for Cartel Settlement: The Commission introduced its cartel settlement procedure in 2008 and in May 2010 reached its long-awaited first settlement in relation to its investigation into producers of DRAM memory chips. The parties, having seen the evidence in the Commission file, chose to acknowledge their involvement in the cartel. Each party consequently benefited from a reduction in its fine of up to 10%. The DRAM decision shows that the settlement procedure can be made to work in practice, including in complex cases with a large number of companies involved.

• Recent Cases relating to Access to Documents: Two recent decisions by the General Court have considered the extent of the right of access to documents held by the European Commission in the context of antitrust procedures. Documents exchanged with the Commission, internal communications with the Commission's Legal Service and other internal correspondence relating to decisions may be exempt from the obligation to disclose. However, the General Court has held that the Commission must specifically and individually examine requested documents before refusing disclosure, and not rely on general assumptions.