Private Antitrust Litigation In Germany

"An extract from The 2009 European Antitrust Review - a Global Competition Review special report - www.globalcompetitionreview.com"

With the Seventh Amendment to the German Act against Restraints of Competition (ARC), effective from 1 July 2005, the German legislature amended the ARC with the specific intention to facilitate private antitrust enforcement. Until then, private antitrust enforcement focussed mainly on anti-competitive behaviour by dominant undertakings, whereas hard-core cartels were rarely subject to private-party claims. Although private damages actions based on cartel infringements are still not widespread, they have become more common and it is to be expected that in particular follow-on actions will become well established within the German civil law system.