The Droit & Commerce association organised a conference in Deauville on 25 June 2021 on the theme “Competition in all its forms”.
Maurice Nussenbaum, Chairman of Sorgem Evaluation, spoke alongside Ms Jacqueline Riffault-Silk, Honorary Dean of the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation, on the topic: “The victimised company: the time for redress”.
The session “Competition law in practice, or the three faces of the company” was chaired by Ms Agnès Mouilard, President of the Commercial, Financial and Economic Chamber of the Court of Cassation. The following speakers also took part in this session:
- Ms Irène Luc, Vice-President of the Competition Authority,
- Ms Loraine Donnedieu de Vabres-Tranié, a member of the Paris Bar and a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Lawyers Practising Competition Law (APDC).
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Since Directive 2014/104 (the Directive) and its transposition into French law on 9 March 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has pursued the objective of making remedies for private damages more effective. To this end, it has sought to remove certain evidential hurdles for victims.
Although the case law relating to these provisions is still recent in France – as they apply only to cases brought after their entry into force – there are already enough examples of their application to allow for an initial assessment.
The decisions examined illustrate various contributions made by these provisions concerning the presumption of harm, the issue of compensatory damages and loss of opportunity, the concept of ‘passing’ (which has been revisited on several occasions), and the disclosure of documents, which is necessary without infringing on the protection of business secrets.
It is worth noting that these provisions have already helped to strengthen victims’ rights in relation to compensation for losses resulting from breaches of competition rules.