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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

CJEU case-law already includes circa 53 cases of Private Enforcement of Competition Law
+11 pending [list surely incomplete]
• referrals from actions relating to Arts. 101 or 102 TFEU (damages, validity of contracts
or injunctions)
• referrals on access to evidence, to prepare private enforcement actions
• cases by potential claimants relating to refusals of access to Commission files, to
prepare private enforcement actions (2 leading to 2 judgments)
• cases by infringers meant to prevent publication of Commission decisions or
disclosure of information (to fend off private enforcement actions)
• cases where a third party seeks annulment of a Commitment Decision because of its
impact on contractual rights and private litigation
• referrals from actions relating to State aid (damages and injunctions
for suspension or recovery)
Rhythm of new referrals has significantly increased. The Private Enforcement
revolution will mean that the CJEU will start playing a bigger role in clarifying
EU Competition Law
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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Challenges to Commission refusals to provide access to evidence

Case T-109/05 Navigazione Libera del Golfo EU:T:2011:235
Case T-437/08 CDC Hydrogene Peroxide EU:T:2011:752
Case T-344/08 EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg EU:T:2012:242. Case C-365/12 P EnBW
Energie Baden-Württemberg EU:C:2014:112
Case T-380/08 Netherlands v Commission EU:T:2013:480
Case T-611/15 Edeka-Handelsgesellschaft Hessenring EU:T:2016:643. Case T-611/15 Edeka-
Handelsgesellschaft Hessenring EU:T:2018:63

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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Infringers’ attemps to prevent publication of decisons or disclosure of information by EC

Case T-474/04 Pergan Hilfsstoffe für industrielle Prozesse EU:T:2007:306
Case T-345/12 R Akzo Nobel et al EU:T:2012:605. Case T-345/12 Akzo Nobel et al EU:T:2015:50
Case T-341/12 R Evonik Degussa EU:T:2012:604. Case T-341/12 Evonik Degussa EU:T:2015:51. Case C-162/15
P-R Evonik Degussa EU:C:2016:142. Case C-162/15 P Evonik Degussa EU:C:2017:205
Case T-164/12 R Alstom EU:T:2012:637. Case T-164/12 Alstom EU:T:2014:1089.
Case T-462/12 R Pilkington Group EU:T:2013:119. Case C-278/13 P(R) Pilkington Group EU:C:2013:558. Case T-
462/12 Pilkington Group EU:T:2015:508.
Case T-465/12 AGC Glass Europe EU:T:2015:505. Case C-517/15 P-R AGC Glass Europe EU:C:2016:21. Case C-
517/15 P AGC Glass Europe EU:C:2017:598.
Case T-420/18 R JPMorgan Chase EU:T:2018:724. Case T-420/18 JPMorgan Chase EU:T:2019:405.
Case C-1/19 P(R) JPMorgan Chase EU:C:2019:41. Case C-1/19 P(R) JPMorgan Chase EU:C:2019:230.
Case T-419/18 R Crédit agricole EU:T:2018:726. Case C-4/19 P(R) Crédit agricole EU:C:2019:40.
Case C-4/19 P(R) Crédit agricole EU:C:2019:229.
Case T-79/19 Lantmännen EU:T:2019:212

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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

State aid cases

Case 6/64 Costa v ENEL EU:C:1964:66
Case C-504/07 ANTROP EU:C:2009:290
Case C-284/12 Deutsche Lufthansa EU:C:2013:755
Case C-27/13 Flughafen Lübeck EU:C:2014:240
Case T-580/20 KC EU:T:2021:14
Case T-92/20 Fryč v Commission; Case C-239/21 P Fryč v Commission
[but probably several more…]

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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Arts. 101 / 102 cases

Case 13/61 de Geus EU:C:1962:11 / Case 10/69 Portelange EU:C:1969:36

Case 127/73 BRT v SABAM EU:C:1974:25

Declares (horizontal) direct effect of (current) Arts. 101 and 102 TFEU

Case 47/76 NV Brouwerij Concordia EU:C:1977:11

(Horizontal) Direct effect and category exemptions

Case 66/86 Saeed EU:C:1989:140

Case C-234/89 Delimitis EU:C:1991:91

Powers of national courts to make negative declarations of infringements of 101

Case C-128/92 Banks EU:C:1994:130

Important because of AG Van Gerven’s seminal Opinion, well ahead of its time
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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Case C-344/98 Masterfoods EU:C:2000:689

Commission decisions declaring infringements of Arts. 101 and 102
TFEU are binding in follow-on cases before national courts

Case C-453/99 Courage v Crehan EU:C:2001:465

Art. 101 TFEU directly grants right to damages for injured parties, and national courts are obliged to
safeguard these subjective rights deriving from the EU legal order. Matters governed by national law
subject to limits of equivalence and effectiveness.

Case C-295/04 Manfredi EU:C:2006:461

Reaffirms and clarifies Courage, especially on damages which can be sought (damnum emergens and
lucrum cessans) and limitation periods

Case C-217/05 CEEES EU:C:2006:784 / Case C-279/06 CEPSA EU:C:2008:485 /

Case 260/07 Pedro IV EU:C:2009:215
Substantive issues + validity of contracts
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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Case C-360/09 Pfleiderer EU:C:2011:389

Right of access to NCA public enforcement proceedings, including
leniency documents – need to weigh proportionality

Case C-536/11 Donau Chemie EU:C:2013:366

Clarification of Pfleiderer. Absolute prohibitions of access not allowed, case by case
assessment required

Case C-199/11 Otis EU:C:2012:684

Commission can file claims for damages before national courts on behalf of EU, in
follow-on cases to its Decisions

Case C-557/12 Kone EU:C:2014:1317

Right to “umbrella damages”; causality test determined by EU Law

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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Case C-547/16 Gasorba EU:C:2017:891

Binding effects of EC Commitment Decisions and the preceding S.O.

Case T-873/16 Groupe Canal + EU:T:2018:904 + + Case C-132/19 P Groupe Canal +

EU:C:2020:1007
Challenges to an EC Commitment Decision by affected third party. Extent to which EC must consider
and protect rights of third parties when adopting Commitment Decisions and interaction with
contractual disputes in national courts

Case C-724/17 Skanska EU:C:2019:204

Liability for infringements of 101/102 is determined by EU Law Successor and parent
company liability (no private enforcement “sausage gap”). Public enforcement
case-law on concept of undertaking (including single economic unit and economic
successor) applies in private enforcement as well.

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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Case C-637/17 Cogeco EU:C:2019:263

Temporal scope of application of Directive 2014/104/EU. Implications of principle of effectiveness for
national limitation periods prior to Damages Directive. Doctrine and Dutch and Scotish judgments
interpreted judgment as requiring suspension of limitation period pending public enforcement
investigation. CJEU declared Art. 483 of Portuguese Civil Code violates EU Law in this context. PT
Courts disagreed. Said CJEU was wrong about PT Law, which does not infringe EU Law. Action
dismissed due to time-barring.
[See also recent public enforcement case C-308/19 Whiteland]

Case C-435/18 Otis EU:C:2019:1069

Causality test. Public authorities who had to give out greater loans with
low interest because of a cartel are entitled to damages under EU Law

Case C-327/19 SABAM EU:C:2020:959

Clarification of substantives issues of interpretation of Art. 102 TFEU

See also EFTA Court cases: Fjarskipti (E-6/17); Nye Kystlink (E-10/17)
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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Completed cases which did not lead to a decision

T-358/19 Groupe Canal + EU:T:2021:273
Sibling case to T-873/16. Removed after withdrawal of Decision by Commission

C-2/20 Daimler UK
Extraterritorial application of EU Competition Law
Removed from registry (questions withdrawn)

Case C-716/19 Repsol (I) EU:C:2020:870

Deemed inadmissible due to incomplete info in referral
National Court resubmitted referral – see pending C-25/21

See also EFTA Court cases: Fjarskipti (E-6/17); Nye Kystlink (E-10/17)
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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Cases clarifying jurisdiction for private enforcement cases, under Brussels I Regulation

Case C-133/11 Folien Fischer EU:C:2012:664

Case C-302/13 flyLAL (I) EU:C:2014:2319

Case C-352/13 CDC Hydrogen Peroxide EU:C:2015:335 (jurisd. clauses)

Case C-27/17 flyLAL (II) EU:C:2018:533

Case C-595/17 Apple Sales International EU:C:2018:854 (jurisd. clauses)

Case C-451/18 Tibor-Trans EU:C:2019:635

Case C-59/19 Booking.com EU:C:2020:950 (contractual and tort liability)

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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Pending cases
C-819/19 Dutch Air Cargo (AG Bobek Opinion issued)
On geographical-temporal scope of application of EU Competition Law and potential extraterritoriality

C-882/19 Mercedes Benz Trucks España (Sumal) (AG Pitrozzella Opinion issued)
On single economic unit, requiring clarification of Skanska - liability of subsidiaries for parent company
infringements

C-30/20 Volvo (AG De la Tour Opinion issued)

Brussels I Regulation: does rule for jurisdiction in tort cases designate only the courts of a given MS (then up
to national law to decide), or designate a specific court (within the MS) where harm occurred

C-267/20 Volvo e DAF Trucks

On temporal application of Damages Directive, concerning limitation periods and
quantification of damages

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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Pending cases
C-588/20 Daimler
Whether EC decision in trucks cartel included special vehicles, such as garbage trucks, fire engines, cement
mixers, road sweepers, tankers and transporters of hazardous materials (scope of binding effect of decision)

C-721/20 DB Station & Service

On identification of infringements of 102 in sectors subject to ex ante sectoral regulation. Obligation to decide
private enforcement action even when injured person could have resorted to sectoral regulator’s alternative
dispute resolution mechanisms

C-25/21 Repsol
Burden of proof and binding effect of NCA decisions (whether a contract falls under scope of
NCA declaration of infringement)

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4. Summary of EU case-law on Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law

Pending cases
C-57/21 Ceske drahy (Regiojet)
Obligation to grant access to evidence in private enforcement when public enforcement
investigation is underway. Clarifying information injured persons may have access to and
when (interaction with public enforcement cases).

C-163/21 PACCAR (DAF Trucks)

Clarification of disclosure obligations: can parties be required to prepare and disclose data sets?

C-???/21 UEFA and FIFA

Questions concerning whether UEFA and FIFA’s reaction to the Super League announcement
infringed Art. 101 or 102 TFEU

C-???/21 Daimler
Questions from Valencia in trucks cartel case on compatibility with principle of full
compensation of courts costs splitting in case of partial success and on estimation of damage
by national court
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