Antitrust
Actions for Damages
According to the Court of Justice of the EU, any citizen or business who suffers harm as a result of a breach of the EU antitrust rules (Articles 101 and 102 TFEU) should be able to obtain reparation from the party who caused the harm. However, despite this requirement under European law to establish an effective legal framework enabling victims to exercise their right to compensation, victims of EU antitrust infringements to date very often do not obtain reparation for the harm suffered. The amount of compensation that these victims are foregoing is in the range of several billion Euros a year.
The absence of an effective legal framework for antitrust damages actions hampers the full enforcement of the antitrust rules and thus has a negative bearing on vigorous competition in an open internal market. The current ineffectiveness of antitrust damages actions is best addressed by a combination of measures at both EU and national level. These measures should achieve effective minimum protection of the victims’ right to damages under Articles 101 and 102 in every Member State, create a more level playing field and provide greater legal certainty across the EU. Therefore, the Commission has taken a number steps since 2004 to stimulate the debate on that topic and elicit feedback from stakeholders on a number of possible options which could facilitate antitrust damages actions. Based on the outcomes of several public consultations, the Commission has suggested specific policy choices and measures in a White Paper.
Public consultation: Quantification of harm caused by infringements of the EU antitrust rules
Deadline: 30 September 2011
In addition to the need for an effective legal framework for compensation, the success of antitrust damages actions and full compensation of victims rests also upon techniques to overcome complex issues related to the quantification of harm suffered by those victims.
From 17 June to 30 September 2011, DG Competition held a public consultation on a Draft Guidance Paper on quantifying harm in actions for damages based on breaches of the EU antitrust rules. The aim of this Guidance Paper is to offer assistance to national courts and parties involved in actions for damages by making more widely available information relevant for quantifying the harm caused by antitrust infringements. The paper sets out insights into the harm caused by anticompetitive practices and provides an overview and illustration of the main methods and techniques available to quantify such harm in practice.
The paper is available in all official languages at the following links:
bg cs dk de et el en es fr it lv lt mt hu nl pl pt ro sk sl fi sv
The written contributions to the public consultation can be accessed here.
Workshop with Economists
On 27 September 2011, DG COMP held a workshop with economists on the draft Guidance Paper and on the issue of quantification of harm in antitrust damages actions. At this workshop, the following presentations were made:
As part of the expertise sought in the preparation of the Draft Guidance Paper, a group of economic consultants and lawyers produced for the Commission an external study on the quantification of harm suffered by victims of antitrust infringements  (December 2009). Following the publication of this study, DG Competition organised a workshop with external economists; the agenda of the workshop and written contributions submitted by participants can be found here.
The preparatory work of the Commission for the Draft Guidance Paper has also strongly benefitted from continuous exchanges with a range of judges from the Member States dealing with competition cases. Useful contributions on the topic of quantifying damages were received as part of the comments on the White Paper. Previous external studies prepared for the Commission also addressed the quantification of harm suffered by victims of antitrust infringements, see the respective sections in the study on the conditions of claims for damages in case of infringement of EC competition rules (August 2004) and in the study on making antitrust damages actions more effective in the EU (December 2007).
Public consultation: Towards a Coherent European Approach to Collective Redress
The European Commission held from 4 February to 30 April 2011 a public consultation on collective redress, preceded by a Joint Information Note of Vice-Presidents Almunia and Reding and Commissioner Dalli on the need for a coherent European approach to Collective Redress. The replies to the public consultation and the recording of the public hearing held on 5 April 2011 are available here.
The purpose of this consultation is, among other things, to identify common legal principles on collective redress in the EU. The consultation also explores in which fields different forms of collective redress could have an added value for better protecting the rights of EU citizens and businesses and for improving the enforcement of EU legislation.
In 2008 the Commission issued a White Paper on Damages Actions for Breach of the EU antitrust rules. This paper suggested specific policy options and measures to overcome the many difficulties that victims of EU antitrust infringements are faced with when seeking redress, including standing of victims in court, the availability of evidence and the quantification of damages. In the White Paper, the Commission had already underlined the need for effective collective redress to enable all victims of infringements of EU competition rules to obtain full compensation for the harm they suffered. The results of this public consultation will therefore allow the Commission to further develop its policy on private enforcement of the EU competition rules.
The results of the public consultation will allow the Commission, as foreseen in its work programme for this year, to adopt a Communication on the topic. The common legal principles set out in that Communication will guide any EU initiatives on collective redress.
White Paper and Green Paper on antitrust damages actions
In 2008, the Commission published a White Paper on Damages Actions for Breach of the EC antitrust rules. The White Paper suggests specific policy options and measures that would help giving all victims of EU antitrust infringements access to effective redress mechanisms so that they can be fully compensated for the harm they suffered.
The White Paper was preceded by a Green Paper, published in 2005.
Key documents
Click here to find the various documents published by the Commission (White Paper, Green Paper, accompanying documents, external studies, and comments received from institutions and stakeholders) as well as a number of speeches and articles on the topic.
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