Spanish Antitrust Private Enforcement: Enhancing Consumer Collective Redresss

Abstract

Following the decisions of the European Court of Justice in the Courage and Manfredi cases, victims of antitrust practices may seek redress before their national civil courts against the infringing businesses. In Spain, an empirical study on private enforcement of competition law collecting the cases brought before the Spanish courts from 1999 to 2012, it found that, despite the increase of antitrust private enforcement cases in this country in the last decade, only one out of 323 reported cases was brought by consumers. With this in mind, the dissertation aims to find out the reasons of the scarcity of consumer cases in the land of private antitrust enforcement in Spain, in order to palliate this situation. To this end, this dissertation surveys some of the most successful models in delivering redress across the world, such the US-style of class action or the Dutch Settlement-only opt-out mechanism for mass torts, as well as the proposals recently made in the UK, with the ultimate aim of learning the appropriate measures that can effective and efficiently deliver redress to consumers harmed as a result of anti-competitive practices. In the light of those successful modes, it is noted, argued and concluded that the debate has focused on encouraging group litigation rather than on articulating efficient mechanisms, such as ADR tools, to deliver redress with the involvement of the National Competition Authorities. Based on this premise, two proposals are made: redress schemes voluntarily implemented and certified by the Spanish Competition Authorities on a voluntary basis, and a Public Prosecutor-led collective action articulated on opt-out basis.