What (Not) to Expect From the Oral Hearing

By putting great emphasis on the oral hearing, the new Best Practices package seems to suggest that, in the Commission’s view, the hearing should be one of the cornerstones of due process in a cartel investigation. According to section 3.1.5 of the Best Practices in antitrust proceedings, the purpose of the hearing is to “allow the parties to develop orally their arguments which have already been submitted in writing and to supplement, where appropriate,