Competition – Consumer Protection
Competition policy in France (combating agreements, decisions and concerted practices, abuse of a dominant position, merger control) is traditionally one of the responsibility of the ministry of Economy.
However, according to the French law on the modernisation of the Economy, dated 4 August 2008, the DGCCRF (General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (Ministry for the Economy, France)) (a competition, consumerism and anti-fraud body) has no longer exclusive control over the conduct of investigations into anti-competitive practices. The Competition Authority is now the main body responsible for national investigations and for the implementation of competition policy in France. It defines its cooperation policy in accordance with its own priorities.
In this new sharing of expertise, the objective of ADETEF is to support the development of technical assistance actions that contribute to those priorities validated by the relevant ministry. This support can take various forms: long or short-term experts in support of the Competition Authority's own expertise, administrative and financial management of twinnings or contracts, organisation of study visits, etc. This synergy could further be strengthened by the resources that the DGCCRF (General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (Ministry for the Economy, France)) decides to dedicate to these actions, particularly in the field of training.
Technical assistance actions in the field of consumer protection mainly deal with legal support for the protection of economic interests of consumers, quality policy and product safety. ADETEF has also relations with other bodies, in particular the National Consumer Council and AFNOR (French Standards Association. AFNOR Group revolves around 4 core competency areas: standardization, certification, industry press and training) .
