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Under the rules, known as Regulation 1/2003 and in force since
2004, the European Commission has taken on Alphabet unit Google,
Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Intel and imposed billions of
euros in fines.
The rules have also allowed the EU competition enforcer to go
after car parts cartels, banks' manipulation of financial
benchmarks and other illegal price-fixing groups, putting the EU
agency in the forefront of antitrust enforcement.
The Commission wants to maintain its leading position, Vestager
said.
"I'm announcing today that in the coming months we are going to
launch an evaluation of Regulation 1/2003, the central plank of
our antitrust enforcement framework," Vestager told a conference
organised by economic consultancy CRA.
"It is important that we hear the views of stakeholders
concerning what has worked well, and where there is scope for
more efficient and effective procedures and enforcement tools;
making sure Regulation 1 is truly 'fit for the digital age',"
she said.
Vestager said the updated rules would seek to make them more
operational and useful to businesses.
Such procedural changes would relate to requests for information
sent to companies, dawn raids, oral hearings where companies
seek to defend their cases and the 10% cap on fines levied for
breach of rules or non-compliance.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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