CONSUMERS : THREE-WAY AGREEMENT ON COMPENSATION FOR CARTEL VICTIMS.

• Position: Brief article

Parliament, Council and Commission have reached an agreement on the proposed directive allowing for collective redress in cartel cases

Several more technical meetings will be required to fine-tune the text, but the main elements have already been wrapped up. A meeting on the evening of 18 March resulted in a compromise on the future directive, which harmonises opportunities for victims of anti-trust cartels between companies within the EU to claim damages. Individuals and companies harmed by such cartels would have five years to make a claim, with a suspension during the time of the investigation.

Parliament and Council have enhanced the methods available to demonstrate harm inflicted or profits lost - compared to the text proposed by the Commission in June 2013. In particular, this means allowing a decision by a competition authority (either a national authority or the Commission) to sanction a cartel to be accepted at least as proof in another member state (in the absence of full recognition). An extra year will be added to the deadline in case of...