Dear Readers,
There have been significant antitrust development in the EU: the EU Directive on Antitrust Damages was adopted in November 2014, requiring Member States to implement it in their legal systems by December 27, 2016, with a view to strengthen private enforcement. So far, on account of many factors, the EU’s track record of private enforcement of competition rules has been rather staid. Thus, the EU Directive attempts to optimize the EU competition rules and harmonize EU and national laws on the matter, with a view to ensuring that the victims of antitrust infringements get just compensation.
This Chronicle looks at the features of the new EU Directive, its promises, and its challenges. To this end, the contributors examine several pertinent questions such as – what has been the track record of the EU in settling multinational claims, what are the challenges posed by multinational claims, how might the EU Directive interact with the current leniency programs and legal systems in Member States, what will be the rules of discovery in such cases, what might be the deterrence value of the EU Directive and its potential impact on the volume of litigation, what will be the role of settlements in light of the EU Directive, and how will one quantify and apportion damages in such cases.
While it remains to be seen how the EU Directive will affect firms, empower consumers and competition authorities, and appeal to academics, it is certain that the its ramifications will, in no measure, be non-significant.
As always, thank you to our great panel of authors.
Sincerely,
CPI Team
