Carácter procedimental del non bis in idem en la Unión Europea

Abstract

After several years under harsh criticism, the Court of Justice of the European Union has finally accepted to review its case law on the idem condition in the ne bis in idem doctrine. In bpost and Nordzucker & others, the ECJ has adjudicated that the idem condition must be understood as idem factum in every field under EU Law, including competition law. The grounds for this decision remain unclear. This paper suggests that a clear distinction between a procedural and a substantive concept of non bis in idem and, specially, the acknowledgment of the ECJ’s endorsement of the latter, may help to understand its most recent case law.