European Parliament welcomes the Commission's white paper on damages actions for breach of the EC antitrust rules

 

On 26 March 2009, the European Parliament has resolved to welcome the Commission’s White Paper of April 2008 on damages actions for breach of the EC competition rules, encouraging the Commission to proceed with the adoption of further steps towards a legislation at Community level on this issue.
The Commission’s activism on damages actions and collective redress mechanisms
The Parliament’s favourable resolution is an important response to the actions taken by the Commission in recent years to improve private enforcement of antitrust laws and to promote effective redress mechanisms for consumers.
On the antitrust side, the Commission published a first Green Paper in 2005 and then, upon invitation of the European Parliament, a White Paper in April 2008.  A few months later, on November 27, 2008, the Commission published a Green Paper on consumer collective redress of damages caused by traders: the Green Paper explicitly excludes antitrust damages actions, because of the specific nature of antitrust law and the wider scope of victims, which also includes small and medium enterprises (see Green Paper, para. 5).
The question of consumer damages actions and redress has also been considered by the OECD in its recent Recommendation on Consumer Dispute Resolution and Redress of 12 July 2007.