39 Supplementary provisions stimulate competition in the distribution to the Directive enhancing of products where there is an exclusive the Autorité’s means of action import agreement situation. In addition The DDADUE Law, which entered into to the existing ban on exclusive import force on 6 December 2020, provides for agreements in French overseas territo- complementary measures to the ECN+ ries, it will now be prohibited for a whole- Directive, aimed at enhancing the effec- sale-importer or wholesaler-retailer or for tiveness of the Autorité’s action and a group of undertakings in which at least enabling it to safeguard the smooth per- one of the entities performs one of these formance of its tasks. activities, to apply discriminatory condi- tions relating to products or services for First, the law clarifies the provisions which there is a de facto exclusive import relating to the Autorité’s investigatoyr agreement to an undertaking in which it powers in the context of dawnraids in, does not hold any of the capital. two respects: it mandates the presence of only one judicial police officer per site Press release, 20 November 2020 visited and provides for competence over all the sites visited of the liberty and custody judge who authorised the dawn raid in the first place. Secondly, it gives the Autorité additional Competition law The continual and repeated efforts means to reduce the time taken to pro- has recently been of the competition authorities and at the centre of this desire for convergence are cess cases involving litigation, while still debate on a range indeed characteristic in this respecting the adversarial principle. The regard. This is a major strength in legislative provisions streamline proce- of sensitive issues. dealing with the actors and issues How do you view that transcend geographical dures before the Autorité by allowing the role and position borders in an increasingly more frequent use of the simplified of competition law globalised economic context. procedure, by increasing cases that The various forums available to examined by a single member of at the European and competition authorities: the OECD, can be international level? the International Competition the Board, and by adjusting the criteria Network, UNCTAD and the for the allocation of powers between the The last three years have been European Competition Network DGCCRF (Directorate General for Compe- particularly active at European (ECN) are a reference point level. Since the negotiation and and are particularly dynamic tition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud in creating consensus and Control) and the Autorité in the area of adoption of the ECN+ Directive, advancing the reflections. which bolstered the powers of They can and should serve micro anticompetitive practices. national competition authorities and the provision of a common as models in the context of the set of powers and safeguards, reflections currently taking place Finally, certain provisions are intended competition law has indeed been at European level, in particular to make the Autorité’s exercise of its at the centre of debate. This has with a view to the adoption of the powers in French overseas territories highlighted the importance of this Digital Markets Act. Competition by enabling economic policy tool in meeting authorities will continue to play more flexible, it to act on a leading role in the digital field market structure (through wider use the high expectations regarding and strengthen their cooperation of structural injunctions). The injunc- a number of issues: the emergence for an ever more harmonised of European champions, better approach and implementation tions will no longer apply solely to retail regulation of the digital giants, of competition law. stores, but now also to wholesale ope- and a commitment to sustainable This is what the Autorité rators. Moreover, the implementation of development. de la concurrence is working the injunctions will no longer require the While there is no doubt that towards, whether through competition law is a powerful tool, the adoption of the Common identification of an "impairment of effec- if only in terms of the amount of Understanding of the G7 tive competition" but only a "competition sanctions that can be imposed competition authorities, in the or the possibility of imposing context of the French presidency concern". Also in the French overseas ter- structural or behavioural ritories, the law provides for provisions to injunctions, it seems to me that in 2019, or through its cooperation it is also via the capacity of the with other national competition competition authorities to work authorities. in a network at European and international level and to provide MATHIAS PIGEAT a uniform and effective response Head of the Legal Department on a pan-European and international of the Autorité de la concurrencescale that competition law has (previously Chief of Staff become an essential tool of and Director of European economic policy. and international affairs) REINVENTING OUR MEANS OF ACTION V I E W P O I N T