Competition Council

The Council of Competition is an administrative tribunal composed of

• The Council stricto sensu , hereafter the Council
• The College of Competition Prosecutors
• The registry of the Competition Council  

The Council

Powers and tasks

The Competition Council takes decisions on the basis of motivated reports presented by the College of Competition Prosecutors with the assistance of the Directorate-General for Competition. The Council has to take decisions on appeals against decisions of sectoral regulators.

Composition

The Council consists of the president, the vice-president and the councilors among whom full-time and part-time councillors

• Raes  Stefaan - President  
• Christian Huveneers – Vice-president

Full-time councillors

• Kris Boeykens
• Laura Parret
• Dominique Smeets

Part-time councillors

• Pierre Battard
• Elisabeth de Ghellinck- van Hecke
• Olivier Gutt
• David Szafran
• Peggy Valcke 

The Council is subdivided in chambers, each consists of three members.

The College of Competition Prosecutors

Powers and tasks

The body has the following duties (art. 29, 61 and 76 of the APEC)

• to receive complaints and requests for interim relief in respect of restrictive competition practices as well as the notification of mergers;
• to open investigations at their own initiative;
• to open general or sectoral inquiries;
• to establish, under the chairmanship of the director-general, the priorities in respect of the implementation of the competition act and to determine the order of handling the dossiers;
• to request the referral of a concentration to the Belgian Competition Authority and also the referral of a concentration to the European Commission;
• to lead and organise the investigations;
• to issue instructions to the Competition Service’s officials charged with carrying out investigative tasks and dawn raids;
• to draw up the investigation report and to defend it to the Competition Council
• to rule on the confidential nature of data of dossiers;
• to take decisions in respect of mergers within the framework of the simplified procedure;
• to decide to drop a case within the framework of restrictive practices;
• to carry out an inquiry in respect of appeals at the Court of Appeal against decisions taken by the Competition Council and its president;
• to ensure the implementation of decisions taken by the Competition Council;

Composition

At this moment the body consists of the following members:

• Bert STULENS (D) competition prosecutor-general

Competition prosecutors

• Marielle FASSIN (F)
• Pierre GOFFINET (F) 
• Antoon KYNDT (D)
• Karel MARCHAND (D) 
• Patrick MARCHAND (F)
• Benjamin MATAGNE (F)
• Toon MUSSCHOOT (D)
• Devi WYNS (D) 

(F) stands for French-speaking and (D) for Dutch-speaking

The Registry of the Competition Council

Powers and tasks

• The Registry fulfils the role of secretariat within the Competition Council where complaints and notifications are brought in.
• it has the duty to notify the decisions of the Council and
• the appeals against the decisions of the sectoral regulators.

Composition

• Ingrid de Mey (registrar)