Constitutional Rules of Community Law in EEC Competition Cases

Part I of this paper seeks to investigate the possible bias, or difference in usage, in the use of the word “constitutional” with particular reference to the now resolved tension between the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the German Constitutional Court. Part II discusses some landmark cases in which the European Courts had to decide whether the powers of the Commission of the European Communities in competition investigations are limited by “constitutional” rules. Part III discusses the Court’s use of the general principles of legal certainty, legitimate expectation, and proportionality to resolve problems of interpretation and application in competition law.