Private enforcement of competition law in Lithuania: a story of underdevelopment

• Core.ac.uk: straipsnio tekstas

ENLegal developments in the European Union epitomised by the entry into force of Regulation 1/2003 envisage enforcement not only by the competition authorities of the Member States, but also enforcement through litigation between private parties before the national courts. The Regulation exhibits an acknowledgement that each EU Member state has a sophisticated national court system and regulatory infrastructure to embark on the heavy load of enforcement of competition laws. Articles 101 and 102 TFEU have long been conceded to have direct effect and to create rights for individuals, which national courts must protect. On several occasions the European Commission and the Court of Justice accentuated that the full effectiveness of the EU competition rules (i.e. arts 101 and 102 TFEU) requires that any individual can effectively claim compensation for the harm caused by an infringement of these rules. The European Commission has taken a number of steps to create an effective private antitrust enforcement framework, such as a Green Paper in 2004 and a White Paper in 2008 with other guidance to be issued soon. These proposals are alleged to be “balanced measures that are rooted in European legal culture and traditions”. There is also well established Union case-law up holding the need to adapt and develop national procedures and remedies so as to secure the effectiveness of Union law rights by providing options for redress.While the right to compensation is recognised by EU law it does not amplify the procedural structure for a private action and therefore it has had little impact upon the private enforcement of competition law in Lithuania, as a range of hurdles currently stand in the way of injured parties effectively receiving compensation in Lithuania. Unlike public enforcement, which principally predominates in Lithuania, private enforcement is largely underdeveloped supporting a general view that private actions against anticompetitive behaviour is of little significance in the overall enforcement scheme in the Member States of the European Union. Keywords: competition law; costs; indirect purchasers; Lithuania; measure of damages; passing on; private enforcement; representative actions. [Extract, p. 123]