The European Commission adopted a package of measures aimed at increasing interaction with parties in antitrust proceedings and strengthening the mechanisms for safeguarding parties' procedural rights. Additionally, among the measures adopted, the Commission expands and strengthens the Hearing Officer role.

The measures adopted by the European Commission are aimed at increasing interaction with parties in antitrust proceedings and strengthening the mechanisms for safeguarding parties' procedural rights. With these measures, the Commission seeks to increase the transparency and fairness of competition proceedings. Thus, they give parties a clear picture of what to expect at different stages of an antitrust investigation and increase their ability to interact with the Commission services. If parties have a dispute about their procedural rights they can refer the matter to the competition hearing officer, who will have an enhanced role throughout the entirety of antitrust proceedings. The package also encompasses a revised Hearing Officer's mandate which strengthens and expands the role of the hearing officer. The hearing officer is independent from the case handling services and plays a crucial role as guardian of procedural rights in competition procedures.

In addition, the Best Practices presented by the Commission introduces a number of novelties, developed following public consultation and practical experience, such as informing parties in the Statement of Objections of the main relevant parameters for the possible imposition of fines; extending state of play meetings to cartel cases and complainants in specific circumstances; and enhanced access to "key submissions" of complainants or third parties, such as economic studies, prior to the Statement of Objections. The Commission already presented in April the Best Practices for cooperation among EU national competition authorities.

On the other hand, it also included in the package measures on further developments to the best practices on submission of economic evidence. Due to the increasing importance of economics in complex cases, the Commission often requests substantial economic data and parties often submit arguments based on complex economic theories or provide empirical analysis. In order to streamline the submission and assessment of such evidence, the Best Practices outline the criteria economic and econometric analysis should fulfil and explains how they will be dealt with.