On 27 July 2022, the District Court of Amsterdam delivered an important judgment in which it confirmed previous case law of Dutch courts on the validity of the ‘assignment model’, by which entities, such as CDC, effectively bundle multiple damage claims in one single action. The judgment is in line with EU law, in particular the principle of effectiveness. By choosing Dutch law as the law applicable to all damage claims, the Court has provided an effective solution for victims of competition law infringements.
Spanish largest construction firms fined €203.6m by the CNMC for bid rigging of infrastructure construction and restoration tenders
On 7 July 2022, the CNMC imposed a fine of €203.6m on the six main national construction firms for manipulating public tenders to build infrastructure over more than 25 years, between 1992 and 2017. On the same day, four of the six defendants (Ferrovial, Acciona, Sacyr and ACS) announced the initiation of an appeal procedure […]
Assessing the compatibility of seemingly contradictory statistical evidence in the case of damage estimations (reflections on the article written by Peter Bönisch and Roman Inderst)
In a recent publication, Peter Bönisch and Roman Inderst tackle the delicate issue of the evaluation of seemingly contradictory econometric evidence. Introducing the concept of severity measures, they propose a method to avoid the common obstacles plaguing the interpretation of seemingly conflicting empirical evidence through the practical example of financial damage estimation in follow-on cases. This blog post discusses the ideas presented in the paper.
When is a truck a truck? Defining the relevant products for cartel damages claims
On 1 August 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled in Case C-588/20 Daimler (Ententes – Camions à ordures ménageres) that specialised trucks are covered by the cartel found in the European Commission’s 2016 decision in Case AT.39824 Trucks. The judgment concerns the fundamental and practically relevant question of how to identify the products directly affected by a cartel infringement according to the decision of a competition authority, which in this respect is binding for the civil courts in a follow-on action for damages. As a result, the right of injured parties to access the Statement of Objections sent by that authority to the cartelists prior to the adoption of the decision will gain in importance, especially if this decision has finally been adopted after a settlement.
Trucks Cartel: the Supreme Court of Norway confirms jurisdiction of the Norwegian courts for follow-on damage action based on the principles of joint and several liability and the civil liability of the ‘undertaking’
In an interesting decision the Supreme Court of Norway confirms jurisdiction of the Norwegian courts for a follow-on damage action based on the principles of joint and several liability and the civil liability of the ‘undertaking’.
CJEU clarifies the temporal application of the new EU Damages Directive’s five-year limitation in cartel cases
In its landmark judgment of 22 June 2022 in Case C-267/20 – Volvo and DAF Trucks, the CJEU confirmed that the five-year limitation period under the EU Damages Directive on antitrust damages applies to all cartel damages claims which at the time of the transposition of the Directive into national law were not yet time barred. Equally, the Court stresses that neither the burden nor the standard of proof for the quantification of competition damages must be too high, and that national courts can estimate the amount of cartel damages where the action was brought after 26 December 2014. The judgment provides much awaited legal certainty for many cases in which the temporal application of the new limitation period and the quantification of damages under the Directive is at the heart of the debate.
German Federal Court of Justice confirms the claims assignment model in the Diesel emission case (and beyond)
On 13 June 2022, the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) held that the claims assignment model (Sammelklage-Inkasso) is admissible for Swiss purchasers in the so-called Diesel scandal (see the Bundesgerichtshof’s press release of the same day). The decision is a further step after the landmark AirDeal judgment last year, in which the Bundesgerichtshof fundamentally acknowledged the collective opt-in assignment model, i.e. the transfer of claims for damages of numerous victims of the same infringement to a specialised third party for the purpose of bundling and joint enforcement of all claims. This approach from a procedural economy perspective has become increasingly important all over Europe in recent years, especially in competition law cases. In its Diesel emission case, the Bundesgerichtshof now confirms that the model is also open to purchasers from Switzerland.
Seven banks involved in European Government Bonds trading cartel during financial crisis
On 20 May 2021, the Commission found that Bank of America, Natixis, Nomura, RBS (now NatWest), UBS, UniCredit, and WestLB (now Portigon) participated in a cartel in the primary and secondary markets for European Government Bonds (EGB). The collusive behaviour lasted from 2007 to 2011, amidst a financial crisis and affected the European Economic Area […]
Spain: Point-system highway maintenance providers’ cartel
CNMC, the Spanish Competition Authority, has imposed a fine of EUR 59.67 million on 12 companies providing maintenance and management services for the country’s national highway networks. The firms were found to have manipulated tenders for road maintenance and operation services of the State Road Network between 2014 and 2018. In addition to the fines, […]
Belgium: Pharmaceutical wholesalers sanctioned for collusion
On 18 February 2022, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) sanctioned two pharmaceutical wholesalers, imposing a total fine of EUR 29.8 million on Pharma Belgium-Belmedis SA, after a 40% reduction for cooperation. Febelco CV received immunity from fines for having disclosed the existence of the cartel. Belgium: Pharmaceutical wholesalers sanctioned for collusion This is the BCA’s […]