French Commercial code
In forceI.-The Minister responsible for the economy shall inform the General Rapporteur of the Competition Authority of any investigations he wishes to undertake into facts likely to fall within the scope of Articles L. 420-1, L. 420-2 and L. 420-5. It sends the documents in its possession justifying the launch of an investigation.
The rapporteur general may take charge of these investigations within one month of receiving the aforementioned documents, in which case he will inform the minister. In the event that the general rapporteur rules out this possibility or has not informed the minister of the action taken within thirty-five days of receiving the documents, the minister responsible for the economy may have the investigations carried out by his departments.
II.-The Minister responsible for the economy will inform the general rapporteur of the Autorité de la concurrence of the results of the investigations he has commissioned and will send him all the documents relating to the proceedings.
The rapporteur general may propose that the Autorité de la concurrence take up the results of the investigation on its own initiative; the Autorité has two months from the date of receipt of the documents by the rapporteur general to take a decision. In the event that the General Rapporteur rules out this possibility or if the Authority does not act on his proposal within the aforementioned period, the General Rapporteur shall inform the Minister.If the General Rapporteur fails to notify the Minister of the Authority's decision within sixty-five days of the transmission of the procedural documents, the Minister responsible for the economy may take the measures provided for in Articles L. 462-5 and L. 464-9, or close the case.
