The Working Group supports the underlying premise that reviews of merger cases must be timely if they are to be effective and that there is a need for action at EU level.

The Working Group’s main area of concern regarding the creation of a separate competition court highlighted that:

• The formation of a competition court under Article 225a EC would create an additional level of review, meaning that further appeals might be made both to the CFI and potentially the ECJ, thus extending the overall appeal timetable; and
• The creation of such a court would require unanimous Council approval, which would take significant time and cost and be difficult to achieve.

The Working Group suggested the following structural reforms:

• The creation of specialist merger chambers within the CFI with their own recommended working practices;
• Those merger chambers to be comprised of specialist and non-specialist judges in the field of competition law; and
• The reform to be limited only to merger cases and not encompass all competition cases.

The Working Group also made concrete suggestions regarding how the expedited procedure could be refined for use in the merger chambers.

The Working Group suggested that:

• The chambers adopt new working rules to expedite case management;
• Parties should be required to co-operate actively throughout the process; and
• Tighter enforcement of existing expedited procedural requirements should be implemented.

Click here to download the IBA Submission to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union.

Click here to download the House of Lords European Union Committee’s report on “An EU Competition Court”