More Antitrust Damages Claims In Europe?

On December 5, 2014, the Official Journal of the European Union published the European Commission's new directive on antitrust damages in civil actions (the "Directive"). The Directive went into effect on December 26, 2014.

The Directive seeks to harmonize procedures across the European Union for plaintiffs seeking to bring damages actions for harms caused by antitrust violations. Most relevantly, it makes damages available in private follow-on actions for the first time in several European Union member states. This is an important change that will likely have the effect of increasing the number of follow-on damages claims in competition cases, and thus has the potential to substantially increase the potential liability for businesses found to have engaged in antitrust violations.