The European Commission has changed the way it deals with anti-trust investigations and says it will now open formal proceedings against companies more quickly.

Under a new set of procedures, the Commission will also publicly announce when it starts formal proceedings against companies and when it has sent them a formal "Statement of Objections" setting out suspected breaches of European competition law.

The Commission has also pledged to offer companies under investigation voluntary "state of play meetings," so they can have "open and frank discussions" about the proceedings against them.

And it says it will disclose key documents to a company being investigated, so that they can "express their views" earlier.

The Commission says it is publishing three best practices documents to give companies a better understanding of how an investigation is likely to proceed, what they can expect from the Commission, and what the Commission is likely to expect from them.

The documents are open to consultation until March 3, but the Commission says it has started following them immediately, on a provisional basis.

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