Hearing Officer & procedural rights

The main role of the Hearing Officers is to safeguard procedural rights throughout ESA’s competition investigations, and to act as an independent arbiter where a dispute on the effective exercise of such procedural rights arises between the parties and the Competition and State Aid Directorate.

The Hearing Officers are independent of ESA’s case-handling services and play a crucial role as the guardians of the procedural rights of parties in proceedings under Articles 53 and 54 of the EEA Agreement. Hearing Officers generally intervene only where a dispute on specific issues (such as the exercise of the right of access to the file, the handling of claims of legal professional privilege and requests for extensions to time limits for replies to key case documents such as statements of objections) cannot be resolved by the parties and the Competition and State Aid Directorate. The Hearing Officers also organise oral hearings and decide on applications by third parties to be heard in the proceedings.

The function and terms of reference of the Hearing Officers in certain competition proceedings describe their role in detail.

Decisions on the Hearing Officer

Hearing Officer - Contact Information

Michael Sanchez Rydelski
Hearing Officer
Email: msa[at]eftasurv.int
Tel.: +32 2 286 1872

Maria Moustakali
Hearing Officer
Email: mmou[at]eftasurv.int
Tel.: +32 2 286 1868