Europos Komisijos administracinių gairių vaidmuo reguliuojant jungtinę veiklą Europos Bendrijos konkurencijos teisėje

LTStraipsnyje analizuojamas Europos Komisijos administracinių gairių, leidžiamų konkurencijos srityje, vaidmuo reguliuojant jungtinę veiklą EB konkurencijos teisėje. Kadangi jungtinės veiklos institutas yra kompleksinis, straipsnyje pagrindinis dėmesys skiriamas toms Komisijos administracinės gairėms, kurios reguliuoja išimtinai jungtinę veiklą. Straipsnyje daroma išvada, kad Komisija turėdama plačias diskrecijos teises konkurencijos politikos ir teisės srityse privalo leisti administracines gaires, išaiškinančias atitinkamas teisės normas, tose srityse, kuriose EB teisė nėra aiški. Straipsnyje parodoma, kad Komisija savo praktikoje nukrypdavo nuo savo administracinių gairių. Be to, dažnai sprendimai konkrečiose bylose, o ne atitinkamos gairės tapdavo patikimesniu teisės aiškinimo šaltiniu, todėl ateityje Komisija turėtų greičiau reaguoti į pasikeitimus ir laiku keisti / pildyti konkrečias gaires. Remiantis atliktu tyrimu, daroma išvada, kad Komisija tradiciškai savo administracines gaires, skirtas jungtinei veiklai, grindė jau susiklosčiusia savo praktika ir EB teismų jurisprudencija. Vis dėlto Komisijos gairės privalo pateikti aiškią ir nuoseklią šios institucijos poziciją dėl konkurencijos teisės normų aiškinimo ir taikymo jungtinei veiklai, o ne tik susisteminti sprendimus konkrečiose bylose. Straipsnyje parodoma, kad Komisijos administracinių gairių leidybos trūkumai sąlygoja tai, kad Komisija delsia parengti ir paskelbti gaires dėl Tarybos reglamento Nr. 139/2004 2 str. 4 ir 5 d. nuostatų aiškinimo ir taikymo.

ENThis article analyses the role of the European Commission's administrative guidelines in regulating joint ventures under competition law of the European Community. Joint ventures are sophisticated area of competition law and are subject to scrutiny under Article 81 of the EC Treaty and merger control rules (Article 82 of the EC Treaty could also apply to joint ventures), therefore, this article explores mainly those administrative guidelines that arc designed exclusively for joint ventures. This article also examines the purpose and legal nature of these instruments and discusses drawbacks of the European Commission's administrative rule-making through administrative guidelines in the field of joint ventures as well as presents Possible remedies for existing problems. It is concluded that depending on the abstract nature of Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty and particular regulations, as well as inability to adopt conventional legal instruments (such as regulations or directives) in a timely manner, the role of administrative guidelines in competition law of the European Community will increase in the future. In addition, it is shown that since the Commission enjoys wide discretion in competition matters, it has an obligation to adopt administrative guidelines, which should make competition rules more clear in those competition law areas that lack transparency. In the process of adopting and publishing administrative guidelines, such standards as quality of guidelines, regularity and timeliness must be ensured. Administrative guidelines should be an instrument raising legal certainty and predictability.However, as it is shown in this article, the European Commission departed from its own guidance in individual cases. Furthermore, in certain instances the Commission's decisions in individual cases provided more reliable source of competition enforcement policy than particular administrative guide-lines designed for joint ventures. This article also shows that the Commission traditionally based its administrative guidelines on its own practice and case-law of the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. However, guidelines should not only codify the Commission's practice and case-law, but also provide clear and consistent position of the European Commission with regard to interpretation of competition rules applicable to joint ventures. In this article it is concluded that the European Commissions delay and failure to adopt and publish guidelines on the substantive issues concerning cooperative aspects of full-function joint ventures (i.e. application of Articles 2(4) and 2(5) of the Council regulation No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings) are caused by the aforementioned problems of the Commission's administrative rule-making through administrative guidelines in the field of joint ventures.