THE CARTEL AND THE CLEMENCY POLICY AT COMMUNITARIAN AND NATIONAL LEVEL

Abstract

The European policy in the competition domain is based on the principle that it must be conducted in a way so that the competition will not be distorted at the common market level. The role of achieving this rule belongs, on one hand, to the European Commission that monitors and punishes the cartels, among other responsibilities, and on the other hand, to the national authorities invested with competencies and roles that are considerable in the area.
The cartels are agreements between enterprises that have a negative influence on the competitive process, being punished by the law both at communitarian level and in the national legislations of the member states. Being not easy to identify, the clemency policy is applied both at communitarian market level and on the national markets, being put to practice in our country by the Competition Council, the authority with competencies in commercial competition area.