The competition authorities of the Member States and the European Commission cooperate with each other within the European Competition Network (ECN) in the investigation of agreements restricting competition (Article 101 TFEU), abuses of a dominant position (Article 102 TFEU) and mergers for effective and consistent enforcement of the EU competition law.
On 16 December 2002, the date of adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, the Council and the European Commission issued a joint statement on the functioning of the ECN. The purpose of the statement is essentially to set out the principles on which the network is based and the political will to operate the network.
Further information on the ECN are specifically available on the Commission's website.