European Commission’s Observations On Access To Leniency Documents – The Debate Continues

Pursuant to Article 15(3) of Regulation 1/2003, the European Commission ("Commission"), acting on its own initiative, may submit written observations ("amicus curiae" observations) to national courts where the coherent application of Article 101 or 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union so requires.

On 3 November 2011, the Commission sent an amicus curiae observation to the UK High Court in the context of a damages action brought by National Grid Electricity Transmission plc. against a number of companies held liable by the Commission in January 2007 for their participation in the Gas Insulated Switchgear cartel.

In the June 2011 edition of our Newsletter, we reported on the Court of Justice of the European Union's ("ECJ") preliminary ruling on the discoverability of leniency applications in civil actions based on the breach of the competition rules (Case C-360/09 Pfleiderer AG v Bundeskartellamt). The Commission's amicus curiae observations