1.There shall be one or more hearing officers for competition proceedings, whose powers and functions are laid down in the present decision.
2.The hearing officer shall safeguard the effective exercise of procedural rights throughout competition proceedings before the Commission for the implementation of Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty, and under Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (hereinafter ‘competition proceedings’).
1.The Commission shall appoint the hearing officer. The appointment shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Any interruption, termination or transfer of the hearing officer shall be the subject of a reasoned decision of the Commission. That decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
2.The hearing officer shall be attached, for administrative purposes, to the member of the Commission with special responsibility for competition (hereinafter ‘the competent member of the Commission’).
3.Where the hearing officer is unable to act, his or her role shall be carried out by another hearing officer. If no hearing officer is able to act, the competent member of the Commission, where appropriate after consultation of the hearing officer, shall designate another competent Commission official, who is not involved in the case in question, to carry out the hearing officer’s duties.
4.In case of an actual or potential conflict of interests, the hearing officer shall refrain from acting on a case. Paragraph 3 shall apply.
1.In exercising his or her functions, the hearing officer shall act independently.
2.In exercising his or her functions, the hearing officer shall take account of the need for effective application of the competition rules in accordance with Union legislation in force and the principles laid down by the Court of Justice.
3.In exercising his or her functions, the hearing officer shall have access to any files relating to competition proceedings.
4.The hearing officer shall be kept informed by the director responsible for investigating the case in the Directorate-General for Competition (hereinafter ‘the director responsible’) about the development of the procedure.
5.The hearing officer may present observations on any matter arising out of any Commission competition proceeding to the competent member of the Commission.
6.If the hearing officer makes reasoned recommendations to the competent member of the Commission or takes decisions as foreseen in this decision, the hearing officer shall provide a copy of these documents to the director responsible and the Legal Service of the Commission.
7.Any issue regarding the effective exercise of the procedural rights of the parties concerned, other involved parties within the meaning of Article 11(b) of Regulation (EC) No 802/2004 (hereinafter ‘the other involved parties’), complainants within the meaning of Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (hereinafter ‘complainants’) and interested third persons within the meaning of Article 5 of this Decision involved in such proceedings shall first be raised by those persons with the Directorate-General for Competition. If the issue is not resolved, it may be referred to the hearing officer for independent review. Requests related to a measure for which a time limit applies must be made in due time, within the original time limit.