ECN Plus - Should the New EU Directive Empowering National Competition Authorities Be All about Effectiveness?

The adoption of Regulation 1/2003 established a system of parallel enforcement powers of the EU competition rules. This has resulted in a stronger and more active enforcement of the rules, but has also revealed that some NCAs lack the tools required to ensure effective enforcement in their jurisdictions. With the aim to remedy this problem, the European Commission has recently presented a proposal for a directive which is intended to empower NCAs to be more effective enforcers. This paper analyses the appropriateness of adopting a directive that seeks to enhance the effectiveness of the national competition law enforcement systems without necessarily paying due regard to other institutional principles