New Legal Framework Aims to Improve Application of Luxembourg Competition Rules

On Thursday 24 November 2022, the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg's parliament) adopted a bill relating to competition, which aims to provide the Luxembourg competition authority with the necessary means to implement competition rules more effectively and thus contribute the proper functioning of the internal market.

At the same time, the bill transposes European Directive 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the European Council into Luxembourg law.

With the entry into force of the law, the Competition Council (Conseil de la concurrence), an independent administrative authority, will be transformed into a public institution under the name "Autorité de concurrence du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg" (competition authority of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg), particularly in order to meet the independence requirements imposed by this European directive.

The new law is also aimed at strengthening legal certainty for companies affected by the authority's activities by improving clarity and procedural guarantees, particularly in the event of checks or inspections.

Beyond its existing missions related to the implementation of competition rules, the new law extends the authority's powers to new areas relevant to businesses, in particular unfair practices in the agri-food sector, services in the internal market and the relations between online platforms and their professional users.

Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, commented: "The new rules will allow the competition authority to act more independently and thus begin an important step in the application of competition law in Luxembourg. Healthy competition in transparent and integrated markets is essential for Luxembourg businesses and consumers".

The new competition law will also serve as a cornerstone for future new tasks for the competition authority, in particular the envisaged introduction of corporate merger control at national level, which has been the subject of a public consultation and for which the tabling of a draft bill is scheduled for spring 2023.