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It is a great honour and a pleasure to have the honourable Judge Anna Markoullis, Judge at the General Court of the European Union and President of the Chamber, here today, whom I welcome and thank for accepting the invitation of the Academy of the Legal Service to speak to us on a subject concerning an area of law which until a few years ago seemed specialised and foreign to Cypriot standards. Today, it is a subject which is attracting increasing interest in the legal world, not only because the usefulness of the prohibitive rules of competition law in ensuring the economic freedom of undertakings operating in the market is recognised, but above all because it has become clear that ensuring conditions of healthy competition essentially safeguards the public interest, which is linked to the protection and well-being of consumers.
Our Courts have also made a decisive contribution to the consolidation of the importance of the correct enforcement of competition law, in the way they have exercised and continue to exercise control over the decisions of the Commission for the Protection of Competition, particularly since the first historic reform of the judiciary, with the establishment of the Administrative Court, supplemented by the operation of the Court of Appeal and its Review Division. It is therefore with great pleasure that I welcome the distinguished judges of both the Administrative Court and the Court of Appeal, and of course the Supreme Constitutional Court, who honour us with their presence today.
I am also pleased to welcome to today's lecture the President and Members of the Competition Protection Commission, the body to which the State has entrusted the responsibility for the implementation of the relevant legislation to ensure healthy competition conditions in the market, as well as its officials who are with us today. Their work is carried out mainly through the decisions issued by the Commission, either following complaints or ex officio investigations, in cases of suspected infringements of the provisions of the Law on Protection of Competition and of Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. These decisions, as you are well aware, are subject to review by the Courts under Article 146 of the Constitution.
It is a fact that the review of the decisions of the Competition Protection Commission by the Courts and, by extension, the interpretation of competition law, confronts the judge with weights of an economic nature and issues of technical knowledge, raising concerns as to the intensity and scope of the judicial review exercised. It is therefore with interest that we look forward to hearing what Ms Marcoullis has to say, bearing in mind that the General Court is competent to rule on direct actions against acts of the institutions of the Union and, consequently, the Court of Justice, which exercises judicial review of decisions of the European Commission in the field of competition, on the basis of such actions brought by the undertakings concerned.
In addition to judicial review, issues such as the right of access to the file, the rights of defence of undertakings, in particular the right to a prior hearing and compliance with the ne bis in idem principle, are necessary components of a favourable system which ensures the protection of the competing interests which in most cases are at stake and which the national court is called upon to weigh up. In relation to these aspects, the case-law of the Courts of the European Union is, for the national Competition Protection Commission, the instrument from which the appropriate way of dealing with these issues, which safeguards the rights of defence of the undertakings concerned in proceedings before the Commission, can be derived. Therefore, also in relation to these issues, it is important to hear and share the knowledge and experience of Ms Marcoullis, who participates in the composition of the Court of Justice that gives judgments in relation to these issues.
I believe that the topic of today's lecture will provide food for thought and is intended to initiate a productive dialogue on issues where the experience of the EU judge can irrefutably guide us towards good practice and the adoption of best solutions.
The Legal Service of the Republic, recognising its role as a collaborator of the judiciary, seeks through today's lecture and looks forward to educating all of us, always with the aim of strengthening and upgrading our legal culture, on issues that affect in a substantial way the functioning of the market, having an impact on the economy itself and ultimately affecting the consumer, who benefits in principle and is protected through the existence of free and healthy competition.
Today's lecture falls under two separate pillars of the newly created Legal Service Academy. One is to educate our officials on the specialized legal issues that concern us and the other is to educate other public officials.
In closing, I would like to congratulate both the Head of our Academy and Attorney Dr. Despina Kyprianou, as well as the rest of the management team of the Academy for the very remarkable work they have presented in the short course of the Academy and for the very important programme they have prepared for the rest of this year.
With this brief introduction I invite to the podium the Senior Advocate of the Republic, Ms Demetra Kalli.
(MΛ)
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