Private Enforcement of Competition Law through Collective Redress

Texto da quarta capa:
The past years have witnessed a rapid growth of private enforcement of
competition law throughout Europe. Following the entry into force of the EU
Damages Directive in 2016, the number of legal actions started by harmed
competitors and customers against the firm(s) breaching competition rules
have substantially increased. In particular, following the European Commis-
sion 2016 Decision sanctioning the cartel established by the major truck
manufacturers in Europe, thousands of legal actions have started in the civil
and commercial courts in Spain, Germany and other European countries.
These damages compensation actions, however, are usually started by
individual firms ? i.e. SMEs that had previously purchased trucks from the
cartelists. In other words, US-style antitrust class actions by harmed consu-
mers are still not common in Europe. This enforcement scenario, however,
might change in the near future: in transposing the Directive 2020/1828 on
Collective Action Redress, Portugal and other EU Member States have exten-
ded the scope of the Directive to competition law. Since the Directive
entered into force only in June 2023, it is too early to understand its concre-
te effects on actions for collective redress in the field of competition law in
Europe. Nevertheless, Directive is likely to further boost antitrust damages
actions in certain European countries, like Portugal.
The book by Bianca Mendes Pereira Richter discusses collective redress of
competition law from a comparative perspective. In particular, the volume
compares the legislative framework and the relevant case law in Brazil and
in the European Union, looking at the case of Portugal. The case of Portugal,
therefore, is interesting to test possible future antitrust class actions in
Europe - i.e. up to now a topic subject to controversy in Europe. Secondly,
having the same language and similar legal systems facilitates the compara-
tive analysis between Portugal and Brazil. In view of these considerations,
the topic of the volume is particularly relevant, both in the contest of private
enforcement of competition law in Europe as well as in Brazil.
The book includes a systematic analysis of primary and secondary literature,
as well as national legislation and case law. The conclusions are clear and
strongly relevant for the on-going debate on how to boost private enforce-
ment of competition law, both in Europe and in Brazil. The volume is thus a
must-read for academics and practitioners working in the field of competi-
tion law enforcement.