Judgment_paragraph 148 · Österreichische Postsparkasse AG and Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft AG v Commission of the European Communities (T-213/01, T-214/01)

148Regulations No 17 and No 2842/98 do not lay down a specific time-limit within which a third-party applicant or complainant showing a legitimate interest must exercise its right to receive the objections and to be heard in infringement proceedings. Thus, Articles 7 and 8 of Regulation No 2842/98 merely provide that the Commission must transmit the objections to the applicant or complainant and set a date by which the applicant or complainant may make known its views in writing, whilst that third party is also able to express its view orally if it so requests. In addition, Decision 2001/462 allows the applicant or complainant to be heard at any point in the procedure, expressly stating in Article 12(4) that, in view of the need to ensure the right to be heard, the hearing officer may ‘afford persons, undertakings, and associations of persons or undertakings the opportunity of submitting further written comments after the oral hearing’ and must fix a date by which such submissions may be made. It follows that an applicant or complainant's right to be transmitted the objections and to be heard in the administrative procedure to find an infringement of Articles 81 EC and 82 EC may be exercised while the procedure is in progress.

Österreichische Postsparkasse AG and Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft AG v Commission of the European Communities (T-213/01, T-214/01)

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