April 21, 2015
The adoption of Directive 2014/104 / EU of 26 November 2014 on actions for damages for breaches of competition law in the Member States and the EU is an important development and a challenge for the future application of the rules of competition in the EU. The seminar addressed the main novelties the new Directive incorporates and the needs for its transposition by EU Member States.
Professor Charlotte Leskinen (IE Law School) analyzed in detail the rules of the Directive, which are mainly procedural in nature, aimed at facilitating antitrust damages claims. She also discussed the implications of the rules of the Directive have regarding public enforcement of competition rules (in particular, for the protection of leniency programs). Her speech also examined the shortcomings of the Directive, particularly in relation to collective redress (excluded from the directive matter). For Leskinen it is doubtful that the rules of the Directive will contribute to amore effective application of competition law in the EU.
From another perspective Carlos Pascual Pons (KPMG, Economics of Regulation and Competition) raised several interesting issues concerning economic aspects the calculation of antitrust damages, matter dealt with by several rules in Directive. In particular, he discussed the presumption of damage in case of cartels, the passing-on defense and the legitimacy of indirect purchasers, illustrating his explanation with reference to some recent cases of the Spanish practice on competition damage claims (sugar cartel).”
