The Damages Directive, which seeks to promote and harmonise the private enforcement of EU competition law before national courts across the European Union – and which was first published in December 2014 after more than ten years of debate – was due to be transposed into national law by each Member State by 27 December 2016. While most Member States did not meet this deadline, it is nevertheless already apparent that there are divergences in the approach of certain jurisdictions to its implementation.

This Briefing Note considers what we know so far about the approach to implementation of the Damages Directive across certain key EU jurisdictions and the extent to which the differences between the private damages regime in the UK and the equivalent regimes in other Member States will be narrowed as a result. It also highlights the key implications for clients either bringing, or defending, competition damages actions in the EU.

Click here to read the Briefing Note, a joint publication of Best Friends De Brauw, Slaughter and May and Hengeler Mueller.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.