Newsletter Antitrust Law – September 2010

In a judgement dated 14 September 2010 in the matter Akzo Nobel Chemicals and Akcros Chemicals/Commission (Case C-550/07 P), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has reconfirmed that the internal correspondence with in-house counsel/staff lawyers within a company is not protected by the confidentiality extended to communications between clients and lawyers (legal privilege). This judgement conclusively establishes that companies will have to tolerate investigations and, where necessary, the securing of correspondence exchanged between staff lawyers and company employees by the European Commission, if the purpose of such investigations is to procure evidence of unfair competitive practices.