The Private Enforcement of Competition Law

Abstract This book provides a global overview of private competition enforcement. It provides an analysis of recent private competition enforcement decisions and developments up to 2023, focusing on: an international picture of private competition enforcement; an analytical breakdown of the main elements of private competition enforcement, with a focus on damage claims; and a comparison of how each of these elements is implemented across the world, focusing on the US and the EU but including other jurisdictions. The work is divided into two parts. The first contains an overview of private competition enforcement and the leading regimes around the world, including a discussion of the background and rationale for private enforcement, and general descriptions of some of the leading jurisdictions. It also discusses the interaction between public and private enforcement and the main areas of tension between them. The second, larger, part looks in more detail at the constitutive elements of private enforcement regimes and how they are applied across different jurisdictions. The chapters focus on judicial mechanisms for obtaining private redress for competition harms; out-of-court mechanisms; practical solutions to ensure the effectiveness of private enforcement, and particularly of damages claims; standing to bring competition claims; rules applicable to defendants of such claims; means to establish that a competition law infringement has taken place; mechanisms to determine where private enforcement claims will be decided and under which rules; rules of evidence, including how to establish causation of loss flowing from an infringement; quantification of damages; and the main economic methods used to calculate damages.