Injunctions at the Request of Third Parties in EU Competition Law
Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, pp. 58-86, 2010
Maastricht European Private Law Institute Working Paper No. 2011/05. Final version published as Cauffman, C. (2010). Injunctions at the Request of Third Parties in EU Competition Law. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 58-86. Translated into Romanian and with addition of information
29 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2011 Last revised: 12 Jan 2014
Date Written: October 25, 2010
Abstract
The European Commission recently made significant efforts to encourage the private enforcement of EU competition law, by inducing natural and legal persons who suffered damages as a result of competition law infringements, to bring actions for monetary damages before national courts. An important obstacle to the succes of this type of actions is the dificulty to prove and assess the amount of damages. This problem could be evaded by bringing actions for injunctions instead of actions for damages. Surprisingly, however, actions for injunctions have received less attention in the debate as to the private enforcement of competition law. This article investigates the current possibilities to bring actions for such injunctions either in the course of administrative procedures, or in the course of civil procedures and suggests proceeding to the introduction of a harmonized action for the cessation of competition law infringements.
Keywords: Competition law, injunctions, interim measures, tort law, unfair commercial practices
JEL Classification: K13, K21, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation