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Competition Policy

eLeniency

eLeniency is an online IT tool designed to make it easy and less burdensome for companies to submit statements and documents to DG COMP, and for DG COMP to grant access or notify documents in the context of leniency, cartel settlement and non-cartel cooperation proceedings.

eLeniency is available at: eleniency.ec.europa.eu.

 

Who can use eLeniency

eLeniency is open to companies and to their legal representatives in cartel and antitrust proceedings run by DG COMP.

eLeniency is available in English but statements can be made and access can be granted to case documents in all 24 official EU languages.
 

What benefits does eLeniency provide

Companies and their legal representatives can use eLeniency to:
 

  1. Make statements and submissions
     
  • File corporate statements and submissions in the context of leniency applications (immunity from fines or reduction of fines) by means of typing into the Commission’s server (i.e. no oral recording of statements);
  • Upload supporting documents;
  • Provide replies to requests for information made under point 12(a) of the Leniency Notice;
  • Submit documents, provide comments or make formal settlement submissions to the Commission as part of cartel settlement proceedings;
  • Submit corporate statements, provide comments or make formal settlement submissions to the Commission in non-cartel cooperation proceedings under Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, where an undertaking cooperates with a view to acknowledging an infringement of competition rules.
     
  1. Receive access to or notification of case documents
     
  • Letters and decisions in the context of leniency applications (immunity from fines or reduction of fines);
  • Letters, decisions and other documents as part of cartel settlement proceedings;
  • Letters, decisions and other documents in non-cartel cooperation proceedings under Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, where an undertaking cooperates with a view to acknowledging an infringement of competition rules;
  • Corporate statements and other leniency material accessible only at the Commission’s premises in the context of obtaining access to the Commission’s file, including in cartel settlement and non-cartel cooperation cases.

The system enables companies and their legal representatives to type corporate statements, upload supporting documents, or receive access to case documents directly online on the Commission’s secure server, without the need to travel to the Commission’s premises. eLeniency is available online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
 

Confidentiality and legal protection

The eLeniency system provides the same guarantees in terms of confidentiality and legal protection as the traditional procedure of dictating oral corporate statements or receiving access/notification of case documents at the Commission’s physical premises. All data is transferred or displayed securely in the system’s interface and functionalities to copy, print or download are disabled. The data submitted or displayed in eLeniency is not cached on the applicant’s computer nor anywhere else. The only place where the data is physically stored is on the Commission’s securely hosted server.

Corporate statements under the Leniency Notice that are made via eLeniency are protected from disclosure in the EEA. Corporate statements that are directly typed in eLeniency should also be protected from discovery outside the EEA (since the person submitting the statements will not have control or custody of them after they have been submitted).

In practice:
 

  1. Make statements and submissions
     
  • Statements or submissions cannot be saved. They must be typed in one go. Once a user starts making a statement or submission, the session remains open for 12 hours. For long statements that can take longer than 24 hours to type, fragmented statements with proper referencing are also accepted.
  • Before a user formally submits and uploads a statement or submission to the eLeniency server, he or she can preview it and make corrections.
  • The Commission cannot retrieve any statement or submission, or any supporting documents, until they have been formally submitted in eLeniency.
  • Once a statement or submission has been uploaded to the eLeniency server, only the Commission can access it and no trace of it remains on the user’s computer.
  • The user receives a timestamp confirming the recorded date and time of submission to the Commission.
     
  1. Receive access to or notification of case documents
     
  • Access is restricted to the relevant users of companies and their legal representatives, based on their EU Login accounts validated by DG COMP for each case and party.
  • Documents are made available in dedicated workspaces in read-only mode over a predefined duration.
  • Once the access period expires, access to all documents is revoked for all users within the respective workspace and no trace of the documents remains on the user’s computer.
  • Before accessing certain workspaces, all users have to accept the access to file rules and confidentiality rules. At the end of access, users have to sign a minute confirming the date(s) of access/notification, which they can preview or download.
     

How to access eLeniency

  1. To access eLeniency the first time, users must first create an EU Login account (or use an existing EU Login account). An EU Login must be created individually (by lawyer or by company representative). A user guide is available here.
  2. Users must then send an email to comp-leniencyatec [dot] europa [dot] eu ( comp-leniency[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)  indicating the email address linked to their EU Login account asking to have their EU Login registered within the eLeniency system. This ensures only authorised users have access. The registration of user requests will be done from 09.00 to 17.00 on Commission working days (i.e., not on weekends and Commission holidays).
  3. Registered users can then login to eLeniency at: eleniency.ec.europa.eu

NB: As the registration process may require some time, companies and their legal representatives are advised to register in advance before using eLeniency.

NB: Before a change in position (e.g.: no longer working in the same law firm or company), an information email from the user should be sent to comp-leniencyatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (comp-leniency[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
 

Guidance for using eLeniency

Background

The use of the eLeniency system is voluntary. Companies and their legal representatives can continue to use the current oral procedure to make statements and submissions, or to receive access or notification of case documents at the Commission’s physical premises.

13 JANUARY 2021
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