S.L. 379.10 Art. 2Interpretation.

(1) For the purposes of these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

" "the Act" means the Competition Act:

"applicant" means an undertaking within the meaning of article 2 of the Act which is party to an alleged secret cartel, including participants in a cartel, whether or not active on the same market, which contributes to the implementation of a cartel in a subsidiary, accessory or passive role, and which, independently of the other undertakings involved in the cartel, applies for immunity from penalties and, or a reduction of penalties in exchange for the voluntary provision of presentations regarding its knowledge of and role in the alleged secret cartel by submitting a leniency application to the Director General:

Provided that the term "applicant" shall also include an association of undertakings which performs an economic activity on its own behalf where it participates in an alleged secret cartel on its own behalf and not on behalf of its members;

"cartel" means an agreement or concerted practice between two or more competitors aimed at coordinating their competitive behaviour on the market or influencing the relevant parameters of competition, through practices such as, but not limited to, the fixing or coordination of purchase or selling prices or other trading conditions, including in relation to intellectual property rights, the allocation of production or sales quotas, the sharing of markets and customers, including bid-rigging, restrictions of imports or exports or anti-competitive actions against other competitors;

"Directive" means Directive (EU) 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers, and to ensure the proper PENALTIES IN CARTEL INVESTIGATIONS

functioning of the internal market;

"inspection" means an inspection under article 12(7) of the Act;

"leniency" means immunity from penalties or a reduction in the amount of the penalty which would otherwise have been requested by the Director General to be imposed on an undertaking on account of its participation in a secret cartel, in order to reward it for its cooperation with the Office within the framework of these regulations;

"leniency application" means an application for leniency which is submitted to the Director General and consists of a leniency statement made by the applicant and any pre-existing information submitted with or attached to it;

"leniency statement" means an oral or written presentation voluntarily provided by, or on behalf of an undertaking to the Director General, or a record thereof, describing the knowledge of that undertaking of an alleged secret cartel and describing its role therein, which presentation was drawn up specifically for submission to the Office under these regulations, with a view to obtaining immunity from or a reduction of penalties, not including evidence that exists irrespective of the investigation by the Office, whether or otherwise such information is found in the file of the Office, namely pre-existing information;

"penalties" means any penalty that may be imposed by the Court in terms of article 21(1) of the Act;

"secret cartel" means a cartel the existence of which is partially or wholly concealed, in particular whereby elements of the cartel that make the full extent of the conduct more difficult to detect are not known to the public or the customers or suppliers"."

(2) Other terms used in these regulations shall have the same meaning as assigned to them in the Act.