Private Enforcement Of Antitrust Law In The United States

Private Enforcement of Antitrust Law in the United States is a comprehensive Handbook, providing a detailed, step-by-step examination of the private enforcement process, as illuminated by many of the country's leading practitioners, experts, and scholars. Written primarily from the viewpoint of the complainant, the Handbook goes well beyond a detailed cataloguing of the substantive and procedural considerations associated with individual and class action antitrust lawsuits by private individuals and businesses. It is a collection of thoughtful essays that delves deeply into practical and strategic considerations attending the decision-making of private practitioners. This eminently readable and authoritative Handbook will prove to be an invaluable resource for anyone associated with the antitrust enterprise, including both inexperienced and seasoned practitioners, law professors and students, testifying and consulting economists, and government officials involved in overlapping public/private actions and remedies.

'This comprehensive and well written volume surveys the private enforcement provisions of virtually every country in the world that has a competition law recognizing private actions. It is a first-of-its-kind, incredibly valuable undertaking. In addition to individual country surveys this book includes valuable comparative studies of private enforcement as well as theoretical and empirical analysis of its effects. Every competition lawyer with a multinational practice will benefit from owning it.' - Herbert Hovenkamp, University of Iowa, US

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this practical analysis of competition law and its interpretation in the United States covers every aspect of the subject – the various forms of restrictive agreements and abuse of dominance prohibited by law and the rules on merger control; tests of illegality; filing obligations; administrative investigation and enforcement procedures; civil remedies and criminal penalties; and raising challenges to administrative decisions. Lawyers who handle transnational commercial transactions will appreciate the explanation of fundamental differences in procedure from one legal system to another, as well as the international aspects of competition law. Throughout the book, the treatment emphasizes enforcement, with relevant cases analysed where appropriate. An informative introductory chapter provides detailed information on the economic, legal, and historical background, including national and international sources, scope of application, an overview of substantive provisions and main notions, and a comprehensive description of the enforcement system including private enforcement. The book proceeds to a detailed analysis of substantive prohibitions, including cartels and other horizontal agreements, vertical restraints, the various types of abusive conduct by the dominant firms and the appraisal of concentrations, and then goes on to the administrative enforcement of competition law, with a focus on the antitrust authorities’ powers of investigation and the right of defence of suspected companies. This part also covers voluntary merger notifications and clearance decisions, as well as a description of the judicial review of administrative decisions. Its succinct yet scholarly nature, as well as the practical quality of the information it provides, make this book a valuable time-saving tool for business and legal professionals alike. Lawyers representing parties with interests in the United States will welcome this very useful guide, and academics and researchers will appreciate its value in the study of international and comparative competition law.

With the international community on the brink of an explosion of private remedies for violation of national competition laws, this timely Handbook provides state-of the-art analysis of the private enforcement of competition laws across the globe. Private enforcement of antitrust is becoming a significant component of competition policy laws worldwide; today, more than a hundred jurisdictions have adopted market regimes operating within a framework of competition law, providing a varied base for developing ways by which persons injured by anticompetitive conduct will (or will not) be able to obtain remedies. Written primarily from the perspective of the complainant, the Handbook contributes to the discussion by presenting empirical research on private remedies through unprecedented, detailed and systematic analysis of private antitrust enforcement in the US. The expert contributors - law practitioners in the US and 21 other countries - explain both the law and the realities regarding private remedies as they have experienced them. They provide useful information to law and policy makers contemplating the introduction or expansion of private enforcement and to competition advocacy NGOs, attorneys and others who may wish to support or utilize the tools of private enforcement. By way of conclusion, valuable observations are imparted and recommendations prescribed. This important Handbook will prove an invaluable reference tool for a wide-ranging audience including: international private practice lawyers, law academics and students with a special interest in competition policy, international government officials involved in legislation or regulation of private remedies in countries with competition laws, and economists consulting in competition cases.

Provides a new conceptualization of competition law as economic inequality and its interaction with efficiency become of central concern to policy and decision-makers.

The European Commission’s recent Green Paper on damages actions for breach of EC antitrust rules stirred a debate across Europe on the need for legal reform that would encourage private plaintiffs to claim compensation for losses suffered as a result of anticompetitive conduct. Prominent in the wake of that initiative was the international conference convened by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg in April 2006, the papers and proceedings of which are presented in this important book. Among the topics and issues raised and discussed here are the following: – the 2001 Courage judgment of the European Court of Justice, in which the court decided that everyone who suffers losses from a violation of arts. 81 or 82 EC is entitled to compensation; – relevance of the case law that contributes to general principles of European tort law; – comparative analysis from the more comprehensive experience of national laws in the United States, Germany, France, and Italy; – calculation of damages; – passing-on of losses sustained in an upstream market to customers in a downstream market; – procedural devices which may help to overcome the lack of implementation; – duties of disclosure and the burden of proof; – collective actions that may help to overcome the rational abstention of individuals; – pitfalls of leniency programmes implemented by national competition authorities; and – issues of jurisdiction and choice of law. The lively debates that followed the presentations at the conference are also recorded here. Although more discussion will be needed before a viable legal framework in this area begins to emerge, these ground-breaking contributions by lawyers of various disciplines, jurists, economists, academics, and European policymakers take a giant step forward. For lawyers, academics, and officials engaged with this important area of international law, this book clearly improves our understanding of the economic need and legal particularities which could generate an effective European system of private antitrust litigation.

Enhancing private litigation as a means of boosting the detection of anti-competitive behaviour and of remedying the harmful consequences of these practices on consumers has been at the forefront of the EU Commission agenda for a long time. Starting fr