Commitments in EU Competition Cases: Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003, its application and the challenges ahead

The ‘commitments decision’ procedure under Regulation 1/2003, introduced on 1 May 2004, provides the European Commission with a mechanism to dispose of competition law cases by way of a formal ‘settlement’, similar to a US consent decree. Since then, it has become an important instrument of enforcement of EU competition law. In 2009 alone, there have been commitments cases involving Rambus, Microsoft, RWE and GDF.