Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Union' Court of Justice

Date: 03/22/2022

Subject: According to the Court, the non bis in idem principle does not preclude an undertaking from having proceedings brought against it by the competition authority of a Member State and being fined for an infringement, on the basis of conduct which has had an anticompetitive object or effect in the territory of that Member State, even though that conduct has already been referred to, by a competition authority of another Member State, in a final decision. The Court points out, however, that that decision must not be based on a finding of an anticompetitive object or effect in the territory of the first Member State. If that is the case, by contrast, the second competition authority which institutes proceedings in relation to that object or effect infringes the prohibition against double jeopardy. Finally, according to the Court, the non bis in idem principle applies to proceedings for the enforcement of competition law, in which, owing to the participation of the party concerned in the national leniency programme, only a declaration of the infringement of that law can be made

Parties: Nordzucker e a.

Classification: Justice - Art. 50 Right not to be tried or punished twice in criminal proceedings for the same criminal offence

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