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EU: Almunia announces legislative support for antitrust victims

By  |  November 7, 2013

In a speech given in Brussels on Thursday, European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia announced efforts taken by the regulator to allow victims of antitrust violators to more easily seek compensation for the harm.

According to Almunia, the proposals mark the “first time that the Commission submits draft EU legislation in the field of antitrust damages actions.”

According to the regulator, only one-quarter of cases in which cartel behavior was discovered between 2008 and 2012 resulted in damages actions. Further, those actions were mostly filed within the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.

”Clearly,” said Almunia, “access to compensation is insufficient and unevenly spread in Europe.”

The regulator attributed that insufficiency to complex damages actions processes, which were addressed by new legislation first approved last June.

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