On 17 June 2020, the Paris Court of Appeal (hereinafter the “Court”) handed down its judgment (hereinafter the “Orange ruling”) in which it ordered Orange to pay EUR 249.5 million (EUR 181.5 million in damages plus EUR 68 million in interest) to the telecom operator Digicel for anti-competitive practices implemented in the West Indies in the early […]
What makes a jurisdiction attractive for follow-on damage actions? The case of the Netherlands
This article is the first in a series on private enforcement in the Netherlands. Introduction Over the past 10 years the Netherlands has established itself as one of the key jurisdictions for private damage actions in the field of competition law in the EU. Claimants have brought multiple follow-on actions, mainly relating to pan-European cartel […]
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 […]
The Spanish paper envelopes cartel: Compensation over 40 years later
In 1977, Spain celebrated its first democratic elections in the aftermath of the transition from dictatorship to full democracy. The leading five paper envelope producers used the occasion to create and establish one of the most harmful cartels in Spanish Public Procurement history. Before the elections took place, the transition government were required to buy […]
AG Kokott: Confirming the Wide Scope of Antitrust Damage Claims
Introduction Advocate General (AG) Kokott is one of the most influential and experienced members of the European Union’s judiciary. Recently, she handed down a landmark opinion in relation to the Austrian Elevators and Escalators cartel damages case on the scope of damages claims that can be brought by claimants. The key issue in Austrian Elevators and Escalators revolved around […]
Factors to consider when taking a cartel damages action
As private enforcement of competition law continues its upward trend potential claimants must consider many factors before deciding to pursue a claim for compensation against their suppliers. EU Directive 2014/104 has contributed to the increased awareness of the right to compensation across Europe and there has been a sharp surge in the number of actions being brought […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]