Shaping Private Antitrust Enforcement in Europe

The purpose of this book is to provide a first reflection on the Directive on certain rules governing actions for damages for infringement of competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union, from a variety of perspectives. It opens with two essays that place the Directive in the wider context of private law harmonisation by the EU and of the role of consumer interests in European Law. Following are two essays from persons involved in the law-making process, providing insight into the legislative tensions and policies. The essays making up the central part of the book take a closer look at the most distinctive elements of the Directive (access to evidence, locus standi, risk of multiple recovery, the binding nature of national competition authorities’ decisions) and an assessment of what is missing from it and why. In part, these essays will provide an explanation of how the Directive will likely function, but most will also offer wider reflections on the policy coherence of the proposal and the likely consequences of its implementation. The final part is comparative, including essays on US antitrust law and Australian law.