The European Commission has published a Staff Working Document summarizing the evaluation of the EU Regulations that outline the procedures for applying EU competition rules.

Since their inception 20 years ago, the Regulations have facilitated the enforcement of EU antitrust rules, with the Commission adopting 225 enforcement decisions and imposing fines exceeding €42 billion under Regulation 1/2003.

The evaluation revealed that the Regulations have generally been successful in ensuring the effective, efficient, and uniform application of EU competition rules, with key changes including the decentralization of enforcement and removal of the notification requirement for exemptions under Article 101(3) TFEU.

The European Competition Network (ECN) has played a crucial role in achieving uniform application of EU competition rules, although there is room for enhanced cooperation within the network to avoid unnecessary parallel investigations.

The evaluation also highlighted the need for faster investigations, particularly in light of challenges posed by digitalization, such as the handling of large volumes of data and files during antitrust probes.

The Commission collected evidence through public consultations, conferences, and stakeholder workshops to understand the functioning of the Regulations since 2004, with the final report of the evaluation support study and feedback from National Competition Authorities (NCAs) also being published.

Additionally, the Commission issued a report on the legal framework for and use of interim measures by NCAs to preserve competition during ongoing antitrust investigations, with plans to reflect on the evaluation results and consider potential revisions to the Regulations in the coming months.