EU: Cartel victims get big boost from EU Court of Justice

The EU’s highest court issued a ruling Thursday that will aid in cartel victims’ fight for compensation in a major way.

According to reports, the Court of Justice issued its decision yesterday ruling that two elevator firms found to have conspired to fix prices can be held liable to higher market costs paid by customers. It’s a landmark ruling, reports say, that will facilitate customers forced to pay higher due to anticompetitive collusion in efforts to receive damages.

Kone Oyj and Schindler Holding were found to have formed an elevator and escalator cartel in a 2007 European Commission ruling. The companies were fined $1.4 billion. Now, one of their customers, Austria-based OeBB Infrastruktur, is now seeking compensation for elevated market prices resulting from the collusive behavior.

But the Court of Justice’s decision has broad implications for cartel victims across the EU, including those who may have been harmed by alleged market rigging by some of the world’s largest banks.

Antitrust experts warned, however, that the ruling may not easily be applied in practice.

Full content: Bloomberg

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