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ARTICLE · 25 OCTOBER 2010

Next Steps on Collective Redress for Competition Law Infringements

SJ Berwin LLP
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Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, has recently outlined how the European Commission ('Commission') proposes to take forward the debate on collective redress at an EU level for competition infringements.

European UnionAntitrust/Competition Law
SJ Berwin'S EU & Competition Team
SJ Berwin'S EU & Competition Team

Competition Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, has recently outlined how the European Commission ('Commission') proposes to take forward the debate on collective redress at an EU level for competition infringements. 

The aim is to have coherent rules throughout the EU which allow parties that have suffered damage to take private action for redress on a collective basis.  It is estimated that the unrecovered damages in relation to EU antitrust law infringements amount to over €20 billion per year.

The first step the Commission proposes to take is to launch a public consultation, commencing in November 2010, which will gather views on collective redress rules across the EU.  It will cover antitrust and other policy areas such as consumer protection and environmental law.  The consultation will run for 4 months to the end of February 2011, and will include a stakeholder forum. 

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