One of the tools in implementation competition policy and law is the enforcement of the leniency program against hardcore cartels. Indeed enforcement of the leniency program was one of the competition law tools reviewed at the Six United Nations Conference in 2010 Geneva. The Conference reviewed all aspects of the Set of Multilaterally agreed equitable principles and rules for the control of restrictive business practices. Enforcement of the leniency program came out outstandingly as one the latest and effective tools for fighting against hardcore cartels.
According to UNCTAD, enforcement of the leniency program includes a system, publically announced, of, “partial or total exoneration from the penalties that would otherwise be applicable to a cartel member which reports its cartel membership to a competition law enforcement agency”. Enforcement of the leniency program against hardcore cartels can be effective if there is; a high probability of catching the cartel in question, high degree of the penalty to the parties reported in the cartel much more than that of the reporter, clear benefits to the reporter, track record of success, transparency and predictability of the response by the authority to the reporter and sufficient protection of the curtain raiser, among others. Read more on Enforcement of the Leniency Program againest hardcore cartels
