Reforming Private Antitrust Enforcement in Europe: Between Harmonisation and Regulatory Competition (Schriften zum Wirtschaftsrecht (WR))

The beer cartel underlines that antitrust law is of outstanding significance for all citizens. Anti-competitive practices such as price fixing, limiting production or sharing markets in Europe demonstrate that the free and open market is not guaranteed in its entirety. Resulting economic losses are enormous, especially for consumers as the anti-competitive prices are usually passed on to them. However, filing promising antitrust damages actions is virtually impossible due to the fact that 28 legal orders of the Member States may apply to such cross-border disputes. This legal uncertainty benefits the infringers.The author did not only analyse this problem being at the interface between antitrust and private international law but also interviewed a number of practitioners at international law firms with out-standing expertise in order to shed some light on the litigation process, how it functions, and whether and how it might be reformed. He developed a new system to improve private antitrust enforcement and ensure that victims are compensated.