S.L. 379.10 Art. 9Levels of reduction.

(1) Where the Director General concludes that a leniency applicant qualifies for a reduction of penalties pursuant to PENALTIES IN CARTEL INVESTIGATIONS

regulation 8, he shall in proceedings instituted pursuant to article 12A of the Act request the Court to impose a penalty of a specific amount on the applicant, calculated in accordance with article 21(1) of the Act, which shall be reduced in accordance with the following levels of reduction:

(a) for the first undertaking to provide significant added value, a reduction of thirty to fifty per centum (30-50%);

(b) for the second undertaking to provide significant added value, a reduction of twenty to thirty per centum (20-30%);

(c) for subsequent undertakings that provide significant added value, a reduction of up to twenty per centum (20%):

Provided that in specific cases in which the added value of the information or evidence submitted by an applicant is extraordinarily high, the Director General may, in his discretion, request the Court to impose a penalty which is reduced by a higher percentage than the scales specified in this sub-regulation.

(2) In order to determine the applicable level of reduction within each range referred to in the preceding sub-regulation, the Director General shall take into account the time at which the evidence referred to in paragraph (b) of regulation 8(2) was submitted and the extent to which that evidence represents significant added value when compared to the evidence which is already in the possession of the Office at the time of the leniency application.

(3) Where an applicant submits compelling evidence as referred to in regulation 8(3), which the Director General uses to prove additional facts which lead to an increase in the requested amount of the penalties to be imposed as compared to the amount of the penalties that would otherwise have been requested to be imposed on the participants in an alleged secret cartel, the Director General shall not take such additional facts into account when establishing the amount of the penalty to be requested to be imposed by the Court on the applicant who provided such evidence.