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ARTICLE · 18 FEBRUARY 2009

Settling Cartel Cases: Recent Developments In Europe

SJ Berwin LLP
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While there is a long tradition of settling cartel cases in the US under the Department of Justice’s “plea bargaining” arrangements, the concept of making admissions in cartel cases outside the scope of a leniency policy is still fairly novel and untested in Europe.

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Simon Holmes
Simon Holmes
Philipp Girardet
Philipp Girardet

This article first appeared in the second edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Cartels & Leniency; published by Global Legal Group Ltd, London (www.iclg.co.uk)

1 Introduction

While there is a long tradition of settling cartel cases in the US under the Department of Justice's "plea bargaining" arrangements, the concept of making admissions in cartel cases outside the scope of a leniency policy is still fairly novel and untested in Europe. Having said this, several significant developments in this area suggest that settlements will feature more in European cartel cases in the future. The most significant development in this respect is the adoption by the European Commission of a formal settlement procedure for EU cartel cases which came into force on 1 July 2008. There are, however, also interesting developments in relation to the increasing use of - sometimes more and sometimes less formal - settlement procedures at national EU Member State level

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