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“The European Antitrust Review” - Towards the Directive on Private Enforcement of EC Competition Law: Is the Time Ripe?

23/09/2009

Several years ago, the European Commission launched an initiative to improve private enforcement of EU Competition Law. The initial aim was very ambitious as it intended a complete modernisation of Competition Law by making it widely applicable not only by public authorities but also by judges in the private realm.1 In 2009, the Commission took a further step following the earlier Green Paper of 20052 and the White Paper of 2008, and drafted a ‘Proposal for a Directive on rules governing damages actions for infringements of Article 81 and 82 of the Treaty’ (the Draft Directive). Although this was not officially published, it leaked out in the typical EU style. The ambitious objective of the early years has been significantly narrowed in the process. The Draft Directive will in practice only have effects on damages actions in hard-core cartel cases following an infringement decision by a competent competition authority (follow on actions).

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“The European Antitrust Review” - Towards the Directive on Private Enforcement of EC Competition Law: Is the Time Ripe?
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Authors

Portrait ofCarlos Aguilar
Carlos Aguilar
Partner
Madrid
Portrait ofTim Reher
Dr. Tim Reher, M.Jur. (Oxford)
Partner
Hamburg