Independence of Competition Protection and Telecommunications Market Regulatory Authorities in EU Law: A Real Requirement or a Theoretical Assumption?

The EU legislator aims to construct a model in which matters related to competition protection and sector regulation will be examined by independent authorities. The recently adopted legal acts provide guarantees in service of this goal. However, the adopted method of regulation impairs the implementation of this correct assumption. This is due to the rudimentary nature and inconsistent definition of the bundle of guarantees that make up the independence models in various EU directives. Moreover, this imprecision in the description of the guarantees causes legal uncertainty and, in extreme cases, may lead to them being incorrectly implemented in the national legal order. To illustrate the thesis, examples of such irregularities are presented, taken from Polish law on competition protection and electronic communications.