Article 23 — Interplay between applications for immunity from fines and sanctions on natural persons

1. Member States shall ensure that current and former directors, managers and other members of staff of applicants for immunity from fines to competition authorities are fully protected from sanctions imposed in administrative and non-criminal judicial proceedings, in relation to their involvement in the secret cartel covered by the application for immunity from fines, for violations of national laws that pursue predominantly the same objectives to those pursued by Article 101 TFEU, if: (a) the application for immunity from fines of the undertaking to the competition authority pursuing the case fulfils the requirements set out in points (b) and (c) of Article 17(2); (b) those current and former directors, managers and other members of staff actively cooperate in this respect with the competition authority pursuing the case; and (c) the application for immunity from fines of the undertaking predates the time when those current or former directors, managers and other members of staff concerned were made aware by the competent authorities of the Member States of the proceedings leading to the imposition of sanctions referred to in this paragraph. 2. Member States shall ensure that current and former directors, managers and other members of staff of applicants for immunity from fines to competition authorities are protected from sanctions imposed in criminal proceedings, in relation to their involvement in the secret cartel covered by the application for immunity from fines, for violations of national laws that pursue predominantly the same objectives to those pursued by Article 101 TFEU, if they meet the conditions set out in paragraph 1 and actively cooperate with the competent prosecuting authority. If the condition of cooperation with the competent prosecuting authority is not fulfilled, that competent prosecuting authority may proceed with the investigation. 3. In order to ensure conformity with the existing basic principles of their legal system, by way of derogation from paragraph 2, Member States may provide that the competent authorities are able not to impose a sanction or only to mitigate the sanction to be imposed in criminal proceedings to the extent that the contribution of the individuals, referred to in paragraph 2, to the detection and investigation of the secret cartel outweighs the interest in prosecuting and/or sanctioning those individuals. 4. In order to allow the protection referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 to function in situations where more than one jurisdiction is involved, Member States shall provide that in cases where the competent sanctioning or prosecuting authority is in a different jurisdiction than that of the jurisdiction of the competition authority pursuing the case, the necessary contacts between them shall be ensured by the national competition authority of the jurisdiction of the competent sanctioning or prosecuting authority. 5. This Article is without prejudice to the right of victims who have suffered harm caused by an infringement of competition law to claim full compensation for that harm, in accordance with Directive 2014/104/EU.

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