Mind the Gap! ECN+ Directive Proposal on Its Way to Eliminate Deficiencies of Regulation 1/2003 : Polish Perspective

An article aims at answering a question if a Commission's proposal intended to empower Member States' competition authorities to be more effective enforcers (ECN+ Directive) brings really effective solutions to all weaknesses of Regulation 1/2003 that influenced a poor application of Article 101 and Article 102 TFEU in some Member States (among them in Poland that will be taken as a point of reference). The first part of the article constitutes a review upon an application of the Regulation 1/2003 in Poland. Interestingly, the commencement of the enforcement under Regulation 1/2003 is equal to the total period of application of the EU law in Poland, since it joined EU on the first day Regulation 1/2003 came into force. Regulation 1/2003 does not seem to enhance effectiveness (or intensity) of the enforcement of the Community's competition rules by national enforcers, including NCAs and courts. The reason for this failure is inter alia lying in deficiencies of the principles adopted in the Regulation itself, including lack of unification (or at least – some harmonisation) of the procedure in cases when European substantive law is to be applied. In the second part the content of the Commission's proposal on ECN+ Directive is analyzed in order to find if new regulations are able to solve problems identified above in the Polish practice of applying Treaty's provisions. The article concludes with an overall assessment of the proposed Directive as well as with a list of conditions for effective implementation of the Directive