On 29 May 2020 the German Supreme Court (‘Bundesgerichtshof’) published two judgments (KZR 23/17 and KZR 25/17) in which it provides detailed guidance on the legal principles and the standard of proof to be applied for the substantiation of damages in follow-on damage actions in the light of EU law principles. These judgments are of wide interest […]
Amsterdam Court of Appeal applies Cogeco principles on limitation periods and confirms validity of assignments in Sodium Chlorate cartel case
Introduction On 4 February 2020 the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in a landmark judgment ruled that the claims brought by CDC against Kemira Chemicals Oy (‘Kemira Chemicals’) under Finnish, Swedish and Spanish law are not time-barred. The Court of Appeal is the first national appeals court to apply the Cogeco principles on limitation periods as formulated in 2019 by […]
Collective or Class Actions and Claims Aggregation in the EU: the Claimant’s Perspective
An extract from GCR’s Private Litigation Guide – First Edition. The whole publication is available to purchase on GCR’s website. Private enforcement of competition law in Europe has in the past decade been driven in large part by the aggregation and enforcement of damages claims brought by multiple companies affected by the same competition law infringement […]
Not outsourcing your antitrust damage claim – an efficient use of resources?
Is it an efficient use of resources for a company damaged by a cartel to pursue a claim on its own rather than outsourcing the enforcement to a third party with the special experience and expertise necessary to successfully pursue antitrust damage claims? Particularly for small to medium sized enterprises outsourcing is often the only […]
Scope of parental liability in the Finnish asphalt cartel case
The competition law community is awaiting the preliminary ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in relation to questions posed by the Finnish Supreme Court in the follow-on damages proceedings brought in the Finnish asphalt cartel case by the City of Vantaa against Skanska Industrial Solutions Oy, NCC Industry Oy and Asfaltmix Oy (Case […]
EU proposes new whistleblower safeguards
On 23 April 2018, the European Commission announced its intention to implement new EU-wide standards to safeguard whistleblowers. The Commission’s proposals aim to strengthen existing laws by increasing the protection of whistleblowers who report violations of EU rules, including breaches of competition law. According to the Commission the proposed reforms will establish “safe channels” which whistle-blowers can […]
German Federal Court of Justice hands down landmark judgment in Cement Cartel Case
In 2005, Germany implemented legislation determining the suspension of limitation periods for damage claims during the investigation of a competition authority. However, since the adoption of the new provision it has been unclear whether the law applies on damage claims which arose before the entry into force of the new suspension provision (1 July 2005), […]