Keywords
private enforcement of competition law, public enforcement, discovery, leniency, damages, joint and several liability, amicus curiae, class action, representative action
Abstract
The paper explores the changes the EU Directive on harmonizing certain rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions will bring about in Hungary, with a special focus placed on damages liability rules, the interaction of public and private enforcement of these rules, and the importance of class actions. Amendments of the Competition Act introduced in 2005 and 2009 had created new rules to promote the idea of private enforcement even before the Directive was adopted. Some of these rules remain unique even now, notably the legal presumption of a 10% price increase for cartel cases. However, subsequent cases decided by Hungarian courts did not reflect the sophistication of existing substantive and procedural rules. There has only ever been one judgment awarding damages, while most stand-alone cases involved minor competition law issues relating to contractual disputes. The paper looks at the most important substantial rules of tort law (damage, causality, joint and several liability), the co-operation of competition authorities and civil courts, as well as at (the lack of) class action procedures from the perspective of the interaction of public and private enforcement of competition law.
Recommended Citation
Toth, T. (2016). The Interaction of Public and Private Enforcement of Competition Law before and after the EU Directive – a Hungarian perspective. Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, 9(14), 43-68. https://doi.org/10.7172/1689-9024.YARS.2016.9.14.2
First Page
43
Last Page
68
Page Count
25
DOI
10.7172/1689-9024.YARS.2016.9.14.2
Publisher
University of Warsaw
Publication Date
2016-12-31
