A Practical Guide to National Competition Rules Across Europe

The anti-trust environment in Europe is undergoing major changes as the so called process of modernisation gathers pace. From May 2004, the European Commission lost its exclusive jurisdiction to deal with restrictive agreements and dominance. As a result EU Member States' national competition authorities acquired the power to implement European competition rules, as embodied in Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty.

<p class=copymedium>This decentralisation of power means that those undertakings operating in several Member States, must be aware of each jurisdictions' relevant competition rules to ensure full compliance. For those who wish to complain about anti-competitive practices they will be able to choose between different national competition authorities. Being able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different competition regimes is therefore important for both those who wish to ensure compliance and those who have complaints.

<p class=copymedium>However by "outsourcing" the burden of implementing the anti-trust rules, has the EU's competition regime taken a step closer to the US regime? After the 1 May 2004 will there be an explosion of competition cases claiming damages before the European courts? Is this dependent on the existence of treble damages, class actions and contingency fees?

<p class=copymedium>If the answer to these questions is yes, then advising on competition issues in Europe will require not only an understanding of the competition rules in each jurisdiction, but also an understanding of how the national courts deal with competition cases.

<p class=copymedium>This publication aims to address these issues. Firstly it provides practical information on the competition regimes in each of the EU member states and includes a chapter devoted to the new Member States who joined on 1 May 2004. Secondly it analyses the civil procedure rules in each of the 25 EU Member States, Bulgaria, Norway, Romania and Switzerland - and considers the extent to which competition litigation is likely to increase in the future. Each country chapter has been prepared by experienced competition lawyers.

<p class=copymedium>Marjorie Holmes an experienced competition lawyer and litigator and Lesley Davey, a competition specialist, both from Davies Arnold Cooper, draw on the information provided in each of the country chapters to reach interesting and important conclusions and recommendations.