Access to Leniency-Related Documents after Pfleiderer

Abstract

On 14 June 2011, the Court of Justice reached its long-awaited decision in Pfleiderer. The Court decided that European Union (EU) cartel law must be interpreted as not precluding a person who has been adversely affected by an infringement of EU competition law and is seeking to obtain damages from being granted access to documents relating to a leniency procedure involving the perpetrator of that infringement. It is, however, for the courts and tribunals of the Member States, on the basis of their national law, to determine the conditions under which such access must be permitted or refused by weighing the interests protected by EU law. This contribution analyses the scope of this decision as well as its possible impact on access to leniency-related information submitted to the Commission under the EU leniency programme and on disclosure orders by non-EU courts.