The Imposition of 'Follow-On Penalties' on Managers and Employees

Whereas the European Commission is not empowered to impose penalties on individuals according to Regulation 1/2003, many EU Member States allow their national competition authorities or criminal law enforcers to do so. However, because the Commission typically invokes its competence where markets in more than three Member States are affected, the divergence of sanctioning powers leads to the paradoxical situation that individuals may go unpunished in some of Europe's most severe antitrust cases. Thus, the question arises whether national competition authorities and other competent bodies on the national level can complement prior decisions by the European Commission with additional sanctions exclusively available under national law. I argue, in this article, that neither Regulation 1/2003, nor the principle of ne bis in idem preclude national competition authorities and criminal law enforcers from imposing such “follow-on penalties” on managers and employees, where this is necessary, to ensure effective enforcement and their national law allows them to do so