Neelie Kroes

Reinforcing the fight against cartels and developing private antitrust damage actions: two tools for a more competitive Europe

Commission/IBA Joint Conference on EC Competition Policy .Brussels, 8th March 2007

• Describe the dialogue you have with your competition authorities (CA)
• What are the most frequents competition problems consumers are complaining?
• Do national consumer organisations have rights to initiate collective actions for damages in national courts in case of competition infringements?

Lithuanian national consumer federation

Mrs.Alvita Armanaviciene

DONNCADH WOODS
Deputy Head of Unit
Directorate General for Competition, European Commission
Remarks on: How to incentivise claimants to start an action, while focussing the incentives on meritorious litigation
Conference organised by the IBA and the European Commission on Cartel enforcement and Antitrust damage actions in Europe.
Brussels
9 March 2007

EMIL PAULIS
Acting Deputy Director General
Directorate General for Competition,
European Commission
Remarks on: What are the problems with EC Antitrust Damage Actions in Europe? Does the private pillar require reinforcement?
Conference organised by the IBA and the European Commission on Cartel enforcement and
Antitrust damage actions in Europe.
Brussels
9 March 2007
The views expressed are the author’s personal views only and do not in any way represent any official view or
position of DG Competition or the European Commission. The author would like to thank Kay Wissenbach for
his assistance in drafting this paper.

Fiona Carlin, Lynda Martin Alegi, Grant Murray
1. INTRODUCTION
"Can’t we just pay what we need to, put our house in order and get on with running the
business?" How often have we heard this plea from managers embroiled in cartel cases
in Europe, particularly from those who have settled parallel proceedings with the U.S.
Department of Justice?

John Pheasant

Interaction Between Public and Private Enforcement

Introduction

Once very much the preserve of US antitrust agencies and courts, antitrust enforcement is now an important feature of the international legal landscape. While it has long been the case in the US that antitrust violations can lead to significant fines for corporations and individuals, prison sentences for individuals found guilty of participating in cartel activities and to “follow-on”, private damage claims by injured third parties, the European Commission ("Commission") and other antitrust authorities around the world have only more recently adopted policies and accompanying legal rules which significantly increase the exposure to penalties of those involved in various antitrust violations.

What are the Problems with EC Antitrust Damage Actions in Europe? Does the Private Pillar Require Reinforcement?
Background Paper
Philip Collins
Chairman, Office of Fair Trading, London1
Introduction
My perspective is that of a national competition authority – or in my case a national consumer and competition authority: an NCA whose mission is to make markets work well for consumers. We do this through the use of a variety of tools and instruments that the legislator has given to us including,but not limited to, enforcement of competition rules under a prohibition regime.