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CDC is nucleus, motor and platform for the enforcement of private damage claims resulting from the infringement of European and/or national antitrust law.

• Cartels regularly cause excessive prices and significant distortions in the markets concerned to the detriment of other market participants

• Cartel members are obliged to compensate for any damage or loss caused by their illegal conduct 

• However, antitrust damage claims are rarely enforced in practice. Victims damaged by cartels are often deterred by the perspective of complex economic damage analysis, litigation, high costs, financial risks and potential strain on commercial relationships

• The CDC approach overcomes these obstacles. It allows for a precise damage analysis, an effective claims enforcement and a fair compensation for the damage sustained
  

Hardcore cartels most harmful anticompetitive conduct

Effective competition results in lower prices as well as better products and services. However, the competitive process only works when competitors effectively compete with each other and in particular set prices independently. Secret agreements or concerted practices to fix prices, establish output restrictions or quotas, share or divide markets by allocating customers, suppliers, territories or lines of commerce, or make rigged bids are a direct offence on the principles of competition. Such ‘hardcore cartels’ are universally recognised as the most harmful of all types of anticompetitive conduct. For this reason, cartels are illegal in almost all countries worldwide.

Individual right to compensation

Anticompetitive conduct can result in substantial fines for the companies and individuals involved. Some European countries even stipulate prison sentences or the professional disqualification of business executives. In addition to these public sanctions, European and national law protects the interests of cartel victims by providing an individual right to compensation. According to the European Commission, the private enforcement of competition law through damages actions complements its public enforcement. 

Hardcore cartels result in significant damages which may be recovered by victims. The European Commission estimates that such cartels cause damages of between € 25 billion and € 69 billion in Europe annually. Cartels can affect purchasers of the product or service on any market level, competitors of cartel members, and suppliers and purchasers in complementary markets. In particular companies with large purchase volumes of cartelised products or services should assess the possibility of claims enforcement. There is an increasing awareness that the management of a harmed company is under a fiduciary duty assess and enforce the company’s antitrust damage claims.

CDC approach to effective enforcement of Damage Claims

For various legal and economic reasons, cartel victims often hesitate to enforce damage claims, although they constitute valuable assets. The European Commission has estimated that the compensation that victims of antitrust infringements are forgoing in the European Union per year amounts to between € 5.7 billion and € 23.3 billion. Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes stated: ‘If we are serious about protecting the rights of European citizens then we must be serious about removing the obstacles to damages actions.’ The promotion of effective private enforcement in line with European legal traditions and culture has become a main objective in European competition law on both European and national level.

CDC contributes to the developments in the field and offers a claims enforcement solution born directly in the market. Corporate victims of all sizes consider the approach of CDC to be the only way at present to obtain compensation for cartel-related damages suffered.

Our website will provide you with information on the activities and approach of CDC, the driver of effective private antitrust enforcement in Europe.