With its judgment of 29 July 2019 in Case C-451/18, Tibor-Trans (‘Judgment’), the EU Court of Justice (‘CJEU’) clarified the competence of national courts to hear damage actions relating to pan-European infringements of Art. 101 TFEU under Regulation 1215/2012 Brussels I bis (in short ‘Brussels I bis’). The CJEU specified that victims of illegal cartels can lodge an action for […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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), […]