The Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) is a

Directorate-General Within the European Union (EU), Directorates-General are departments with specific zones of responsibility. Within the European Commission specifically, Directorates-General are the equivalent of national-level Ministry (government department), m ...

of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, located in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. The DG Competition employs around 850 officials, as well as a number of seconded national officials, among other from national competition authorities. It is responsible for establishing and implementing competition policy for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. DG Competition has a dual role in antitrust enforcement: an investigative role and a decision-making role. The current Director-General is . DG Competition is also considered to be one of the most sophisticated antitrust enforcers in the world, alongside the US’

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. Its fines to corporations climbed from €3.4bn between 2000 and 2004, to €9.4bn between 2005 and 2009. Between 2010 and 2012, it totalled €5.4bn. The DG Competition policy areas include the following: * antitrust (agreements and conduct prohibited under Articles 101 and 102 of the TFEU), * mergers (Commission Regulation (EC) No 802/2004 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (The "Implementing Regulation") and its annexes (Form CO, Short Form CO and Form RS)), including checks for foreign subsidies under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation * liberalisation (Article 106 of the TFEU), * state aid - ensuring that government interventions do not distort competition within the EU by selectively benefiting one company or a subset of companies over others (Articles 107 - 109 of the TFEU), * international cooperation. The DG Competition is led by commissioner

Margrethe Vestager Margrethe Vestager (; born 13 April 1968) is a Denmark, Danish politician who formerly served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age between December 2019 and November 2024 in the Von Der Leye ...

, who is currently serving a second five-year term ending in 2024, in addition to the position of executive vice president for digital. Ernst Albrecht, former Minister-President of Lower Saxony and father of current

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

notably held the position.

References

External links

Directorate-General for Competition

Competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

Competition regulators Regulation in the European Union {{EU-stub

See also

References

External links