S.L. 379.10 Art. 5Immunity from penalties.

(1) The Director General shall grant immunity from penalties by refraining from requesting the Court to impose a penalty on an applicant for leniency in terms of article 12A of the Act which discloses its participation in a secret cartel to the Office where the following conditions are met:

(a) the applicant is the first to submit evidence which:

(i) at the time the Office receives the leniency application, enables the Director General to file a request for a warrant in terms of article 12(7) of the Act to carry out a targeted inspection in connection with the alleged secret cartel, provided that the Director General did not yet have in his possession sufficient evidence to file a request for such a warrant, or had not already carried out such an inspection; or

(ii) in the view of the Director General, is sufficient for him to find an infringement of article 5 of the Act and, or of Article 101 of the TFEU in connection with the alleged secret cartel, provided that the Director General did not yet have in his possession sufficient evidence to find such an infringement and that no undertaking previously qualified for immunity from penalties under the preceding sub-paragraph in relation to that secret cartel; and

(b) the applicant fulfils the conditions laid down in regulation 10. PENALTIES IN CARTEL INVESTIGATIONS

(2) An applicant who submits evidence to benefit from immunity from penalties in terms of the preceding sub-regulation shall provide the Director General with such evidence to the extent that this, in the view of the Director General, would not jeopardize the inspections.

(3) The decision of the Director General to grant immunity from penalties to an applicant for leniency who satisfies the conditions laid down in sub-regulation (1) shall be made exclusively on the basis of the type and quality of the evidence and information submitted by the applicant, irrespective of whether an inspection was actually conducted or successful.