Cumulative Enforcement of European and National Competition Law and the Ne Bis In Idem Principle Case Comment to the Judgement of EU Court of Justice of 3 April 2019Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń na Życie S.A. v Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Konkurencji I Konsumentów (Case C-617/17)

• Main Author: Mario Libertini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Warsaw 2019-12-01
• Series: Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies
• Subjects: ne bis in idem principle; objectives of eu competition law; objectives of national competition laws
• Online Access: https://www.yars.wz.uw.edu.pl/yars2019_12_20/231.pdf

The judgement of EU Court of Justice in response to the request for a preliminary ruling by the Polish Supreme Court confirms that the principle of ne bis in idem, enshrined in Article 50 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as not precluding a national competition authority from fining an undertaking in a single decision for an infringement of national competition law and for an infringement of Article 82 EC (now Article 102 TFEU). In that regard it can be concluded that the judgement does not have anything new and is just a confirmation of settled case-law. Unfortunately, this case represents a lost opportunity to review the ‘double barrier’ doctrine and to clarify if the relationship between European and national competition law is one of ‘bilateral specialty’ or not.