Legal Effects of Lodging an Appeal against a Decision of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection Directly with the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection

Abstract

The article analyses an issue of great importance – not only in terms of procedural and constitutional aspects, but above all from the point of view of protecting the rights of parties to proceedings, including the right to defence and to be heard — the issue of the legal consequences of appealing against a decision of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection directly to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. The authors of the publication presented this issue from the perspective of procedural law, constitutional law and international law, including the right to a court hearing. They drew attention to the lack of clear legal regulations specifying the legal consequences of lodging an appeal bypassing the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, as well as the lack of a detailed analysis of this issue in the literature on the subject and in court rulings, despite its significant importance not only from the point of view of the parties to the proceedings but also in terms of ensuring legal certainty. This article is therefore intended, on the one hand, to be a voice in the discussion on the issue in question and, on the other hand, an appeal to the courts applying the law to apply it in accordance with the applicable standards of legal protection, and to the legislator to immediately eliminate the current legal loophole.