EU sector inquiries under Article 17 Regulation 1/2003: rationale, initiation, process, Commission information‑gathering powers, and outcomes including enforcement, guidance and legislative reform
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EU sector inquiries
EU sector inquiries under Article 17 of Regulation 1/2003 are economy-wide examinations triggered when there are doubts that markets function properly, yet without signs of illegal conduct by specific firms. Such exercises survey whole industries to diagnose structural or behavioural issues affecting competition, even where no single business appears to have infringed the rules. In essence, they collect market information on a broad scale to understand whether conditions, pricing or trade flows point to malfunctioning dynamics. Their focus is sectoral, not on particular companies alone. Historically, their legal foundation lay in Article 12 of Regulation 17/62—chiefly an evidence-gathering device that saw little deployment. Only two were undertaken in the 1960s, covering margarine and brewing. The approach evolved in 1999 when the Commission launched a three-stage review of telecommunications, foreshadowing contemporary practice. Today, Regulation 1/2003 supplies the prevailing legal basis, mirroring yet reinforcing the sector inquiry powers previously found in Regulation 17/62. Article 17 states that, where patterns of trade between Member States, price stickiness, or comparable factors imply competition might be limited or skewed within the internal market, the Commission may open an inquiry into a specified sector of the economy or into a particular type of...
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Web page updated on 21/05/2026
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