Private Enforcement of Competition Law in Europe

This book introduces the reader to key legal provisions and case-law related
to the procedural and substantive issues that may arise in damages litigation
for breach of anti-competitive agreements and abuses of a dominant position
prohibitions.

For the past decade, academic publications have focused on the proposal for a
Directive on damages actions, then the Directive 2014/104/EU of 26 November
2014 itself, and finally the transposition texts. However, this understandable
interest should not lead to overlook the fact that the Directive has been
applied very little until now. This is mainly due to its application ratione
temporis. In addition to the fact that Member States only transposed the
Directive between the end of 2016 and 2018, Article 22 of the Directive
provides that the substantive rules contained in the Directive cannot be
applied to infringements subsequent to the national laws transposing them,
while the procedural rules of the Directive apply to proceedings commenced on
or after 26 December 2014. Thus, it is prior domestic law that continues to
govern the vast majority of cases before national courts in the “Pre-Directive
era.” In addition, a number of issues of the utmost importance have not been
addressed by the Directive, such as questions of international jurisdiction or
the quantification of “interests.” For these reasons, it seemed necessary not
to limit this book to commenting on the Directive, important as it is, but to
go beyond it.

Directed by Rafael Amaro, this book contains the contributions from leading
academics, attorneys, jurists and economists in the field of the private
enforcement of competition law. It is composed of thematic chapters dealing
with matters such as applicable law in international litigation, limitation,
quantification of damages, from both a European Union and a national
perspective, as well as national chapters presenting the state of play in
several European States.