The Disclosure of Evidence under the ‘Antitrust Damages’ Directive 2014/104/EU

Abstract

The primary aim of this contribution is to reflect on the principles underpinning the disclosure of evidence under the Directive 2014/104/EU (hereinafter: the Directive), namely, the principles of proportionality, effectiveness, equivalence and consistency. Its secondary aim is to review the legislative techniques that the Directive has used in order to codify the previous case law of the European Union (EU) Courts, and to discuss several recent rulings, including Carglass, Pilkington, Evonik Degussa, Axa Versicherung, and others.

The contribution seeks first to locate the scope of the disclosure of evidence by clarifying the meaning and the importance of such evidence and by examining the categories of evidence. It goes on to examine the established rule on the disclosure of evidence in the light of the principle of transparency and its legal exceptions.

Finally, the author draws conclusions on the adequacy of the achieved codification of the previous case law on the disclosure of evidence and access to such evidence, as well as on its potential implications for the Member States.

Keywords: antitrust damages, Directive 2014/104/EU, disclosure of evidence, European competition law

JEL Classification: K21; K41; K42; L40