Is the New EU Private Enforcement Draft Directive Too Little Too Late?

(by Sebastian Peyer) After a decade of debate, consultation and guidance papers, DG Competition has finally released its draft Directive on actions for damages. It has been driven by the Commission’s desire to encourage private antitrust enforcement, currently deemed too low and mainly restricted to a small number of Member States, and the need to ‘optimise the interaction between public and private enforcement’. This second objective seeks to maintain the incentives for private firms to reveal cartels in return for leniency and engage in settlement procedures. A particular threat is posed by disclosure of leniency documents to third parties (e.g. Pfleiderer and National Grid). However, with rapidly developing litigation on the national level, there is a danger that aspects of the draft Directive are already behind the times.

The Court of Justice’s Expedia ruling undermines the economic approach by eliminating the ‘de mimimis’ defence in object agreements

[by Pinar Akman] One of the most important holdings of the Court of Justice in recent times is buried in paragraph 37 of the 8-page long Expedia judgment, which surprisingly has had few competition lawyers shouting from the rooftops.[1] In essence, the Court has declared that any object agreement[2] which has an effect on trade between Member States has an appreciable effect on competition. In other words, object agreements (with an effect on trade between Member States) can no longer make use of the de minimis doctrine. This represents an important change in the jurisprudence of the Court and, unfortunately, not an ideal one.