The Elevators & Escalators cartel revisited in light of the Skanska case: on the impact of the effectiveness principle on the private enforcement of EU competition law
On 14 March 2019, the CJEU handed down a landmark judgment in the Skanska case. Following the opinion of AG Wahl, the CJEU found that the competition law concept of ‘undertaking’ is applicable as well in actions for damages for breaches of EU competition law. Consequently, each company that is part of the infringing economic unit can be
AG Wahl advises the CJEU following preliminary questions in a Finnish cartel damage case on the relationship between European law and domestic law in the private enforcement of competition law
In a recently published opinion in a Finnish cartel damage case, Advocate General (AG) Wahl discussed the important issue of the relationship between European competition law and private liability law (opinion delivered on 6 February 2019 in the case C-724/17). According to AG Wahl, liability for a breach of European competition law follows directly from European competition
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
Review of economic publication ‘Cartel Dating’
The recent publication on the determination of the period of actual collusive effects by Boswijk, Bun, & Schinkel (“BBS”) is rather timely given the upsurge in private antitrust enforcement across Europe since the introduction of the EU Damages Directive (“Directive”) and its subsequent implementation into Member State law. Background – The Right to Full Compensation The Directive acknowledges the
A new specialised court in town: the Netherlands commercial courts
The Netherlands is an established jurisdiction for bringing European follow-on damages procedures. Examples include the Sodium Chlorate, Paraffin Wax and Truck cartel cases. Cartel-damages cases are perfect examples of international disputes in which either the claimant or defendant, or both parties, are foreign companies coming from several European Member States. To illustrate by an example, the Sodium Chlorate case started
Jurisdiction of national courts in case of follow-on damages claims
The jurisdiction of the national civil court is often questioned in cases concerning EU-wide follow-on damages claims. In its judgment of May 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Case C-352/13 – CDC HP confirmed that the national court under the Brussels I Regulation (Brussels I) is in particular competent to hear and adjudicate the case
Dutch Court accepts jurisdiction for damage claims of non-EU claimants and provides guidance on the interpretation of limitation periods
On 27 June 2018 the Dutch District Court of East Brabant rendered an interim judgment (ECLI:NL:RBOBR:2018:3170) on the limitation periods of damage claims initiated by a Turkish company Vestel Ticaret A.Ş. (Vestel) against various international companies which were members of the cathode ray tubes cartel (CRT Cartel). The Dutch Court accepted jurisdiction of the case as one
Clarifying the reasonableness test in the proposed guidelines of the European Commission on the passing-on of cartel overcharges
Virtually each dispute over claims for damages resulting from an infringement of competition law includes the question of how to deal with the fact that a direct purchaser from an infringer might have passed on all or part of the illegal overcharge to its own customers and thus, directly or indirectly, even down to the
TenneT vs ABB: The case and discussion about the passing-on defence continues
The discussion on the admissibility of the passing-on defence in the dispute between TenneT and ABB continued with the judgment of the Court of Appeal Arnhem-Leeuwarden (Gelderland) of 29 May 2018 (ECLI:NL:GHARL:2018:4876). The procedure concerns a follow-on damages action of the Dutch state-owned grid operator TenneT against ABB – and in a different procedure against
The EFTA Court clarifies the application of limitation periods to antitrust claims resulting from EEA competition infringement
The EFTA Court with its judgment of 17 September 2018 (reference no. Case E-10/17 – Nye Kystlink AS and Color Group AS and Color Line AS) has confirmed that lawsuits against antitrust offenders can face deadline restrictions, but this should not make them “impossible or excessively difficult”. The EFTA Court stated that the compliance of national rules
The compatibility of Irish rules on champerty and maintenance with the EU damages directive
On 17 February 2017, EU Directive 2014/104 (the “Directive”) was transposed into Irish law by the European Union (Actions for Damages for Infringements of Competition Law) Regulations 2017 (the “Implementation Act”). As widely acknowledged, the implementation of the Directive aims to facilitate the enforcement of claims for damages resulting from infringements of competition law before the courts of EU
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),
First Spanish Judgments in trucks cartel follow-on actions
The trucks cartel sanctioned by the European Commission in July 2016 has provoked a flood of individual claims all over Spain. They were filed by all types of transport and logistics companies against the six sanctioned manufacturers, their Spanish subsidiaries and even their financial services providers. Apart from several decisions on jurisdiction and access to