Senior Surface Landman

Witnesses: From the Competition Bureau: Gaston Jorré, Senior Deputy Commissioner of Competition, Mergers Branch; Richard Annan, Major Case Director and Strategic Policy Advisor; Gerry Birks, Senior Competition Law Officer.

In order to guarantee the protection of the rights of farmers, the power to adopt certain acts should be delegated to the Commission in respect of laying down criteria for determining the cases where a farmer's agricultural area is to be considered to be mainly an area naturally kept in a state suitable for grazing or cultivation, criteria to establish the distinction between receipts resulting from agricultural and from non-agricultural activities and the amount of direct payments relevant for applying the marginality ...[+++]test, and criteria to be met by farmers in order to prove that their agricultural activity is not marginal.

I am accompanied by Morgan Currie, who is an Acting Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Competition in the Mergers Branch, and by Denis Corriveau, who is the Senior Competition Law Officer in the Mergers Branch.

Investigations should be conducted in accordance with the Treaties and in particular with Protocol No 7 on the privileges and immunities of the European Union, while respecting the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union laid down in Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 (‘the Staff Regulations’) and the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, and with full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular the principle of fairness, for the right of persons involved to express their views on the facts concerning them and for the principle t ...[+++]hat the conclusions of an investigation may be based solely on elements which have evidential value.