European Law Enforcement Against Antitrust Conspiracies - Recent Trends

Over the last few years, the level of cartel enforcement against antitrust conspiracies across the European Union has increased significantly. While the number of cross-border cartel investigations undertaken by the European Commission has slightly declined,¹ national authorities' activity across Europe has increased considerably, in terms of the volume of domestic investigations and the levels of fines. This is particularly true for the competition authorities of the largest EU Member States. Some of these authorities' cartel enforcement activities have been operating at a consistently high level for some years; others recently have taken steps to strengthen their antitrust enforcement policies. A short overview of the national competition authorities' most recent activities is provided below.