It then sheds light on the reasons which hold back progress. This article illustrates the attempts of the European Commission to improve the compensatory justice in the EU Member States for breaches of EU competition rules in an attempt to enhance their deterrent effects. The consumer, as the ultimate user of products and services in the market, has the power and the ability to strike back at the companies which intended to cause harm. The consumer has been elevated to the status of a stakeholder in competition rules and is no longer regarded as the mere recipient of the effects of competition law and policy.
A notable change in the focus of the EU anti-trust regulator is evident. European Commission (2005b), ‘Green Paper on damages actions for breach of the EC Antitrust Rules’, COM (2005) 672 final) resulting from the anti-competitive behaviour of companies (Case C-453/99 Courage Ltd v Crehan ECR I-6297).
Since 2003, and for the first time in the history of European legal integration, private individuals can claim damages (Article 7 of Regulation 1/2003 OJ L 1. Since 2000, National Competition Authorities (NCA) can enforce EU competition rules in a parallel way, imposing fines, structural or behavioural remedies on companies which restrict, distort or hinder competition.
During the last decade, two developments have reshaped the application and enforcement of competition law and policy in the EU and resulted in decentralisation and private enforcement. Traditionally, the enforcement of EU competition rules has been the exclusive jurisdiction of the European Commission, a regulatory system which is based on public law rules.
0 kommentar(er)
