In its preliminary ruling in Skanska Industrial Solutions and Others[1], the Court of Justice has ruled on the fundamental question of who is liable to pay compensation in an action for damages for breach of Article 101 TFEU.  Is the answer to be found in EU law or national law? Can the person liable to…

In July 2005, Germany adopted a new law providing that the limitation period for damage claims is suspended during the investigation of a competition authority (“Suspension Provision”). Ever since, it was unclear whether the Suspension Provision applies only to infringements committed after the new provision came into force, or whether it has retroactive effect. In…

The Senate has approved with minor amendments the Antitrust Bill (the “Bill”) that had been approved by the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate introduced minor amendments to a few articles of the Bill, though none of them are substantial. The amended Bill will now be considered by the Chamber of Deputies and approval is likely…

Following a considerable delay and a threat by the European Commission to initiate infringement proceedings, Bulgaria finally implemented in its national law the provisions of the European Directive 2014/104/EU on Antitrust Damages Actions dated 26 November 2014 (the “Private Damages Directive”). On 3 January 2018 in the Bulgarian State Gazette was promulgated the Act for…

On 18 May 2017, the Belgian Parliament transposed the EU Damages Directive (the “Directive“) into national law by way of the Act on Damage Claims for Breaches of Competition Law (the “Act“), which was published on 12 June 2017 in the Belgian Official Gazette and came into force on 22 June 2017. The Act inserts…

Following the Parliament’s approval in early March, the Federal States Council, Germany’s second legislative chamber, has approved the most recent reform to German competition law on March 31, 2017. The new law will enter into force upon publication in the German official journal, presumably end of April/beginning of May. The reform was triggered by the…

The Swedish implementation of the Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions (the “Directive”) is  in force as of 27 December 2016 with the entering into force of the Swedish Competition Damages Act (Sw. Konkurrensskadelag (2016:964)) (the “Act”).  The previous provisions on competition damages in the Swedish Competition Act (Sw. Konkurrenslag (2008:579)) have thereby ceased to apply…

In October 2016, the Commission published a new study on the passing on of overcharges.  A key objective for the Study is to provide judges and other practitioners who are not economic experts with clear insight into the economics of pass-on and the methods that can be used to quantify passing-on and volume effects.  The…

On Friday, 1 July 2016, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs finally published its draft law implementing the European Union directive governing actions for damages for infringements of competition rules (“Damages Directive”). The drafting process by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, which was formally in charge of drafting the law, took place…

On 1 October 2015, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (“CRA 2015”) entered into force. The CRA 2015 makes numerous changes to consumer rights laws in the United Kingdom. Of particular interest to competition practitioners and litigators are the provisions on private actions in competition law, contained in section 81 of and Schedule 8 to the…