Prezumţia de nevinovăţie în dreptul concurenţei

Abstract

This paper highlights a frequent error in the analysis, by the public authorities and by the courts, of the infringements of the competition rules provided by Romanian Competition Law 21/1996 and by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The error comes from the fact that, when assessing potential anticompetitive behaviours, especially since the ECHR decision in Menarini Diagnostics case (2011), the presumption of innocence and the rights and obligations which are attached to it, is fully applicable. The presumption of innocence prevails on the legal presumption which operates in the by object infringements and on the presumption of legality of an administrative act, to the extent that the later would confine the review made by a court only to the formal aspects of the sanctioning decision.