13. ‘leniency programme’ means a programme on the basis of which a participant in a secret cartel, independently of the other undertakings involved in the cartel, cooperates with an investigation of the competition authority, by voluntarily providing presentations of his knowledge of the cartel and his role therein, in return for which the participant receives immunity from any fine to be imposed for the cartel or a reduction of such fine;

The European Commission has informed thirteen companies supplying optical disk drives in the European Economic Area (EEA) of its preliminary view that they may have infringed EU antitrust rules by participating in a worldwide cartel.

A firm participating in a cartel which it wishes to denounce may request total immunity from fines if it is the first firm to provide evidence of a cartel hitherto unknown to the European Commission or, if the Commission is aware of the cartel, if the firm is the first to provide it with crucial information enabling it to establish its existence.

To be eligible to secure a marker, the applicant must provide the Commission with information concerning its name and address, the parties to the alleged cartel, the affected product(s) and territory(-ies), the estimated duration of the alleged cartel and the nature of the alleged cartel conduct.

But in both cases, the company must fulfill all of the following conditions: - it must be the first to come forward with conclusive evidence proving the existence of the cartel; - it must have put an end to its own involvement in the illegal activity no later than the time it discloses the existence of the cartel; - it must provide the Commission with all the information it possesses relating to the cartel and maintain continuous and complete cooperation throughout the investigation; and - it must not have compelled another company to take part in the cartel nor have played a determining role.

A firm participating in a cartel which it wishes to denounce may request total immunity from fines if it is the first firm to provide evidence of a cartel hitherto unknown to the European Commission or, if the Commission is aware of the cartel, if the firm is the first to provide it with crucial information enabling it to establish its existence.