The European Union’s planned overhaul of the rules governing how regulators investigate antitrust violations has been postponed until 2027, delaying an effort to modernize enforcement powers built largely for a pre-digital era, according to MLex.
The European Commission had previously been expected to put forward its legislative proposal in the third quarter of 2026. The European Parliament’s legislative tracking material had also identified the third quarter as the anticipated timeframe for the proposal.
The initiative would revise Regulation 1/2003 and its implementing rules, which provide the procedural framework for enforcement of the EU’s prohibitions on anticompetitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position. The regulation has applied since May 2004 and is central to the powers exercised by both the Commission and national competition authorities.
The proposal is now expected in 2027, according to MLex’s report, “Overhaul of EU antitrust powers postponed to 2027.” Publicly available material from competition lawyers also points to a revised timetable. Mayer Brown said in June that a draft proposal was expected in the first half of 2027.
The delay comes as Brussels considers potentially significant changes to the tools investigators use to gather evidence and conduct cases.
The Commission has said that technological developments over the past two decades have transformed the environment in which antitrust investigations take place. Investigators now face much larger quantities of electronic information, while corporate records can be distributed across cloud services, remote workplaces and multiple jurisdictions.
The review is examining investigative tools including inspections and requests for information, as well as interim measures, commitment procedures, complaints and companies’ access to Commission case files. The Commission has said the goal is to make enforcement more effective and efficient while reducing unnecessary costs.
Digital evidence is among the issues drawing particular attention. Questions surrounding the revision include how regulators should collect and preserve electronic information and how inspection powers should operate when corporate data is no longer necessarily stored at the physical premises being searched. Mayer Brown has said remote inspections are among the issues being considered as part of the debate over modernizing the rules.
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The Commission already has broad investigative authority under Regulation 1/2003. Officials can inspect business premises, examine and copy records, seal offices or documents during inspections, question company representatives and require businesses to supply information.
The review could determine how those powers are adapted to modern technology while maintaining procedural protections for companies facing investigations.
Brussels began evaluating Regulation 1/2003 in March 2022 and completed that assessment in September 2024. The Commission concluded that the framework had generally performed well but identified areas where enforcement could become more efficient.
It formally launched work on revising the procedural rules in July 2025, opening a call for evidence and public consultation that ran until October. According to the Commission, more than 80 submissions were received from businesses, lawyers, industry associations, public authorities, academics, civil-society groups and other respondents. The Commission said respondents broadly supported adapting the framework to an increasingly digital economy.
EU officials followed the consultation with a workshop in December 2025 aimed at testing the practical effects of possible reforms before drafting legislation.
Any eventual changes would affect a system that extends well beyond investigations conducted directly from Brussels. Regulation 1/2003 decentralized enforcement of EU competition rules, allowing national competition authorities to apply the same treaty provisions through the European Competition Network.
That makes the revision consequential for companies operating across the bloc: changes to investigative procedures could influence how antitrust cases are handled at both EU and national levels.
The precise reason for moving the proposal into 2027 has not been independently established in publicly available Commission material. The postponement should therefore be attributed to MLex, while the Commission’s public documents confirm the broader review, its objectives and the earlier legislative timetable.
Source: MLex
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