Private Enforcement of EC Competition Law

Among the topics and issues raised and discussed here are the following:

• the 2001 Courage judgment of the European Court of Justice, in which the court decided that everyone who suffers losses from a violation of arts. 81 or 82 EC is entitled to compensation;
• relevance of the case law that contributes to general principles of European tort law;
• comparative analysis from the more comprehensive experience of national laws in the United States, Germany, France, and Italy;
• calculation of damages;
• passing-on of losses sustained in an upstream market to customers in a downstream market;
• procedural devices which may help to overcome the lack of implementation;
• duties of disclosure and the burden of proof;
• collective actions that may help to overcome the rational abstention of individuals;
• pitfalls of leniency programmes implemented by national competition authorities; and
• issues of jurisdiction and choice of law.

The lively debates that followed the presentations at the conference are also recorded here.

Although more discussion will be needed before a viable legal framework in this area begins to emerge, these ground-breaking contributions by lawyers of various disciplines, jurists, economists, academics, and European policymakers take a giant step forward. For lawyers, academics, and officials engaged with this important area of international law, this book clearly improves our understanding of the economic need and legal particularities which could generate an effective European system of private antitrust litigation.