Article 19 — General conditions for leniency

Member States shall ensure that, in order to qualify for leniency for participation in secret cartels, the applicant is required to satisfy the following conditions: (a) it ended its involvement in the alleged secret cartel at the latest immediately following its leniency application, except for what would, in the competent national competition authority's view, be reasonably necessary to preserve the integrity of its investigation; (b) it cooperates genuinely, fully, on a continuous basis and expeditiously with the national competition authority from the time of its application until the authority has closed its enforcement proceedings against all parties under investigation by adopting a decision or has otherwise terminated its enforcement proceedings; such cooperation includes: (i) providing the national competition authority promptly with all relevant information and evidence relating to the alleged secret cartel that comes into the applicant's possession or is accessible to it, in particular: — the name and address of the applicant, — the names of all other undertakings that participate or participated in the alleged secret cartel, — a detailed description of the alleged secret cartel, including the affected products, the affected territories, the duration, and the nature of the alleged secret cartel conduct, — information on any past or possible future leniency applications made to any other competition authorities or competition authorities of third countries in relation to the alleged secret cartel; (ii) remaining at the national competition authority's disposal to answer any request that may contribute to the establishment of facts; (iii) making directors, managers and other members of staff available for interviews with the national competition authority and making reasonable efforts to make former directors, managers and other members of staff available for interviews with the national competition authority; (iv) not destroying, falsifying or concealing relevant information or evidence; and (v) not disclosing the fact of, or any of the content of, its leniency application before the national competition authority has issued objections in the enforcement proceedings before it, unless otherwise agreed; and (c) during the contemplation of making a leniency application to the national competition authority it must not have: (i) destroyed, falsified or concealed evidence of the alleged secret cartel; or (ii) disclosed the fact of, or any of the content of, its contemplated application, other than to any other competition authorities or competition authorities of third countries.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-08-27