Beyond ECN Directive – Empirical Study – Mapping Judicial Review of National Competition Law Decisions – National Report: Latvia

Specialist Counsel Jūlija Jerņeva has written the paper Beyond ECN Directive – Empirical Study – Mapping Judicial Review of National Competition Law Decisions in Latvia. This paper serves as the national report for Latvia in the project “Mapping Judicial Review of Competition Law Decisions,” directed by Or Brook and Barry Rodger. The project is based on an empirical exercise covering all decisions taken in the judicial review of competition law cases between 2004 and 2020 (excluding merger cases and private enforcement).

The chapter addressed the judicial review of public enforcement of competition law in Latvia. Overall, the Latvian courts are competent to review all substantive and procedural aspects of the Competition Council’s decisions. The courts are also competent to review (but not to substitute with their own assessment) those elements of any decision related to the setting of a fine.

The courts are not limited to facts, evidence and the assessment presented by the Competition Council in its decisions, but when additional assessments are made, they should strictly serve to ascertain that, even regardless of any new considerations, the authority’s decision remains. The Latvian legal framework’s approach to reviewing Competition Council decisions strikes a delicate balance between rigorous judicial scrutiny and the autonomous roles of the judiciary and executive branches.

The low annulment rate of Competition Council decisions, as evidenced by the specific cases cited in this paper, reflects a tendency towards strong judicial restraint in overturning administrative decisions. This restraint is further manifested in the nuanced approach of the courts to different types of appeal grounds, with a slightly higher, but highly fluctuating over the years, success rate for substantive appeals.

Publication details: Jerneva, Julija, Beyond ECN Directive – Empirical Study – Mapping Judicial Review of National Competition Law Decisions – National Report: Latvia (July 12, 2023).

Published in: Rodger and Brook et al (eds.), Judicial Review of Competition Law Enforcement in the EU Member States and the UK (Kluwer 2024).

Available to download at SSRN.