On 25 April 2017, important changes ("Amendments") to
Austrian competition law entered into force - a number of changes
will enter into force at different times.
The Amendments transpose the EU Damages Directive (2014/104/EU)
into Austrian law. In parallel, a range of other changes are
introduced into Austrian competition law, e.g. an additional
jurisdictional thresholds test for merger control filings and the
Austrian Federal Competition Authority (FCA) will
have additional enforcement powers during dawn raids (they concern
electronic data).
The following provides an overview of the most important
changes.
PRIVATE ENFORCEMENT OF ANTITRUST DAMAGES MADE EASIER
Following years of consultations, in 2014, the European
Commission published the Damages Directive, which aims at
facilitating the private enforcement of claims before national
courts for damages after competition law infringements. The
enforcement of such claims has gained increasing importance
