Despite the growing importance of 'consumer welfare' in EU competition law debates, there remains a significant disconnect between rhetoric and reality, as consumers and their interests still play only an ancillary role in this area of law. Consumer Involvement in Private EU Competition Law Enforcement is the first monograph to exclusively address this highly topical and much debated subject, providing a timely and wide-ranging examination of the need for more active consumer participation in competition law. Written by an expert in the field, it sets out a comprehensive framework of policy implications and arguments for greater involvement, positioning the debate in the context of a broader EU law perspective. It outlines pragmatic approaches to remedial and procedural measures that would enable consumer empowerment. Finally, the book identifies key institutional and political obstacles to the adoption of effective measures, and suggests alternative routes to enhance the role of consumers in private competition law enforcement. The book's innovative approach, combining normative analysis and practical solutions, make it invaluable for academics, policy-makers, and practitioners in the field.

Private Enforcement of European Competition and State Aid Law Current Challenges and the Way Forward Edited by: Ferdinand Wollenschläger, Wolfgang Wurmnest & Thomas M.J. Möllers The overlapping European Union (EU) regimes of competition law and State aid law both provide mechanisms allowing private plaintiffs to claim compensation for losses or damages. It is thus of significant practical value to provide, as this book does, analysis and guidance on achieving enforcement of such claims, written by renowned authorities in the two fields. The book examines the two areas of law both from an EU perspective and from the perspectives of private enforcement in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. In country reports for these major jurisdictions, as well as in more general and comparative chapters, the authors focus on such issues as the following: impediments to private enforcement; which entity is liable for damages; binding effect of decisions of competition authorities; limitation of actions; collective actions and pooling of claims; enforcement of the standstill obligation (Article 108(3) TFEU); remedies and information deficits; cooperation and coordination between national courts and the European Commission; transposition of the so-called Damages Directive (Directive 2014/104/EU) by the EU Member States; extent to which the strengthening of private enforcement of competition law has a spillover effect on State aid law; and prospects for harmonisation of State aid law. A concluding section identifies enforcement deficits and proposes ways to improve the existing legal framework. As an in-depth assessment of key obstacles and best practices in private enforcement actions, this highly informative and practical volume facilitates choice of the best forum for competition and State aid law cases. Academics and practitioners engaged with this important area of European law will appreciate the authors’ awareness of the economic need and legal particularities which could generate an effective European system of private enforcement of legitimate claims under EU competition and State aid law.

This book is a timely and comprehensive examination of consumer participation in EU competition law enforcement. Using in-depth analysis of recent case law and policy documents, it offers a clear and innovative framework of the subject's normative and practical aspects, and proposes necessary remedial and procedural rules to enable participation.

By their nature, remedies are central to competition law enforcement and represent the yardstick against which the efficiency of the overall system can be measured. Yet very rarely have remedies been treated in a horizontal and comprehensive manner from the combined perspectives of substance, process and policy. The present volume, developed in partnership with the College of Europe’s Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC), provides coherent, practical, and authoritative commentaries by leading experts from the GCLC’s incomparable network. The contributions – originally presented at the 2019 GCLC annual conference – examine remedies to assess the overall effectiveness of competition law enforcement in merger, antitrust and State aid matters. The overall topic is presented under five headings: objectives and limitations of remedies; types of remedies in competition law enforcement; implementation and process; ex post assessment of remedies and policy lessons; and national and international approaches. The high-profile and wide-ranging group of authors includes the Director-General of the European Commission’s competition department, lawyers from major international firms, and well-known economists and academics specialising in competition law. With a sharp focus on how to make competition rules work well in today’s digital environment, this systematic and coherent analysis illuminates an issue that we need to fully grasp and understand in order to make sense of competition policy, law and enforcement in the years and decades to come.

Essay from the year 2019 in the subject Law - Civil / Private / Trade / Anti Trust Law / Business Law, grade: 82.00, University College Cork, course: LLB, language: English, abstract: This paper is concerned with optimising the enforcement of European Union Competition Law against cartels participants. A critique of Directive 2014/104 and its main shortcomings will begin this paper. Investigation then launched into role of national competition authorities in the Union, arguing that enhanced member state cooperation and full transposition of draft Directive 2019/1 (ECN+) will deter cartel activity. Final point concerns individual liability against the company agents behind cartels, how corporate fines imposed by European Commission fail to deter individuals against continued cartel participation.

Recoge : 1. Collective private enforcement of consumer law. 2. Public and privatu transnational conforcemenment of EU consumer law. -- 3. Enforcement of consumers' collective interests by regulatory agencies in the Nordics countries. -- 4. The Dutcht consumer authority. -- 5. Enforcement of collective consumer interest : a competition law perspective. -- 6. Should consumer protection law be publicly enforced? An economic perspective on EC Regulation 2006/2004 and its implementattion in the consumer protection laws of the Member States. -- 7. Collectivism : evaluating the effectiveness of public and private models for regulating consumer protection. -- 8. Collective enforcement of consumer law in Europe ; private, public, and collective mechanisms.