08 August, 2011

C-360/09 Pfleiderer vs Bundeskartellamt


A case I have recently been following is the Pfleiderer Case. This one started out unusually as a "simple" case before the Local Court (Amtsgericht) Bonn, Germany. The "simple" question was: Can a company (rather: their attorney) look into the file of an application for leniency in a cartel case of the German competition authority in order to prepare a private claim for damages? So this is what happened so far:

  • The Local Court of Bonn said: Yes they can, if they fulfil the German preconditions for viewing a file!
  • Then, however it was doubtful, if this may violate EU Law concerning this matter, therefore it brought this matter before the ECJ.
  • AG Mázak considered that, if private parties were to view documents of leniency applications, this might endanger the leniency program of the Bundeskartellamt. On the other hand, considering Courage, everyone must be able to pursue private claims sufficiently. Therefore Pfleiderer should be able to view the files, these should however be restricted to those documents where the applying person does not burden him/herself. The AG does not consider how this is to be done or the additional workload that this puts on competition authorities.
  • The ECJ considered that there was no provision in EU law to prescribe any rules on viewing of leniency application. Therefore, this would be for the Member States to decide.
  • The Local Court of Bonn has not yet decided upon this matter (again)

No comments:

Post a Comment