This book presents an analysis of the recent development of administrative procedures in EC law. It is a pathbreaking study of what might be termed the "constitutionalising norms" now emerging,including a range of 'process rights' and procedural standards, such as the right to access to information, the right to be heard, the principle of care and duty to state reasons. These new standards are increasingly applied in areas as diverse as competition, State aids, customs matters, anti-dumping and the European Social Fund. Different strands of case-law of the EC courts are thus connected to document the overall evolution of procedural rules peculiar to the EC administrative system as a whole. The author adopts a critical stance, in particular, towards the case-law of the Court of First Instance and points out the increasing pressure being brought to bear on the European Commission in respect of its procedural requirements. Particular emphasis is placed on the concept of 'care', i.e. the duty to collect and examine the factual and legal points of individual cases impartially and carefully. The book reveals both the theoretical and practical relevance of this principle as a means of both procedural and substantive review and the reasons why it is likely to be misinterpreted by the courts.

Table of Contents:
Part A Introduction: the quest for and expansion of basic procedural rules in a hetergenic administrative "system"; judicial procedural review as the catalyst for constitutionalising process principles. Part B Procedural "good administration" in EC law: introduction; the significance of "good administration" with regard to procedural rules - "good administration " as an indeterminate notion, procedural "good administration" - the dichotomy of functions underlying process rules; the principle of good administration in the case law of the Community Courts - the "principle of good administration" and access to information - the Tradax case, the "principle of good administration" and the right to be heard, the "principle of good administration" and the principle of care - the IAZ case, the absence of the "principle of good administration" in EC law?. Part C Expansion - access to information and the right to be heard: introduction; the right of access to information - competition law as the origin of the Community right to access to information, the dynamic mutation of "access to information" into a fundamental process right in competition proceedings; the right to be heard (the audi alteram partem rule) - competition law, anti-dumping law, customs law, administration of the European Social fund, more recent jurisprudence and outlook. Part D Expansion - the principle of care (diligence): introduction; the foundations of the principle of care - a cursory conceptualisation of the principle of care in the early case law, a process principle with a strong connotation of substantive legality, the relationship between "care" and administrative investigatory powers, the core justification for the concept of care - administrative discretionary powers, the relationship between the principle of care and the duty to give reasons; the case law on the principle of care - anti-dumping matters - the Nolle cases, general customs matter - the Technische Universitat Munchen and France-Aviation cases, complainants in competition proceedings - the Automec II and Asia Motor France II cases, complainants in state aids proceedings - from Cook to Sytraval; outlook. Part E Conclusion.