The European Commission is conducting surprise antitrust inspections at the premises of companies operating in the financial services sector in two Member States. The Commission is concerned that the inspected companies may have violated EU antitrust rules prohibiting restrictive business practices (Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 53 of the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement).
Financial derivatives are the products under scrutiny during the inspections. Commission officials are accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant national competition authorities of the Member States where the inspections occur.
Unannounced investigations are a preliminary step in investigating suspected anti-competitive practices. It’s important to note that just because the Commission carries out these inspections, it doesn’t mean that the companies are automatically guilty of anti-competitive behaviour or that the outcome of the investigation is predetermined.
There is no set deadline for completing inquiries into anti-competitive conduct. The duration of the investigation depends on several factors, including the complexity of each case, how much the companies cooperate with the Commission, and how they exercise their rights of defence.
