In This Issue:

- Proof of the Competition Law Infringement

- Measure of Damages and the “Passing-On” Defence

- Disclosure of Evidence

- Limitation Periods

- Joint and Several Liability and Contributions from Joint Infringers

- Specific Provisions Designed to Protect Leniency Programmes

- Consensual Dispute Resolution

- Conclusion

- Excerpt from Proof of the Competition Law Infringement:

The Directive provides that, for the purposes of a “follow-on” claim in damages, a violation of competition law is “irrefutably established” by a final decision of a national competition authority or court of judicial review. A final decision here is one in respect of which all possibilities of appeal have been exhausted by “ordinary means”, or in respect of which the period for bringing any appeal or further appeal has expired.

Where the final decision was taken by a competition authority or court of judicial review in another Member State, that final decision may be taken into account by the court trying the claim for damages as prima facie evidence that an infringement was committed, alongside any other evidence adduced by the parties.