MaCCI Conference on Cartel Damages at ZEW

On 10 and 11 November 2016, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and the University of Mannheim jointly organised the Annual MaCCI Law and Economics Conference within the framework of the Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (MaCCI). About 55 national and international participants attended this year’s event to discuss current challenges of private antitrust enforcement. The interdisciplinary character of the conference was very much in evidence, with a great number of legal scholars and economists presenting their respective viewpoints on the topic.

The Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions (Directive 2014/104/EU) by the European Commission, which came into effect at the end of 2014, aims to significantly strengthen the private enforcement of antitrust law. The Directive was enacted in response to the – for the most part – minor importance of private antitrust enforcement in Europe, as well as to the in some cases huge differences in national laws. Against this backdrop, this year's annual conference was the second one – after the 2011 conference – to address the private enforcement of antitrust law, with a special focus on cartel damages.

Over the course of four sessions and two keynote speeches, a total of 12 experts presented valuable insights into the current challenges of the enforcement of the EU Directive. Topics under discussion included the importance of the passing-on defence, the types of entities entitled to compensation, as well as the reconciliation of leniency and cartel damage actions. Highlights of the conference were the keynote lectures by Margaret Levenstein, PhD (University of Michigan, USA) on the deterrence effects of cartel damage actions, as well as by Professor Wouter Wils (European Commission and King’s College, UK) on the private enforcement of EU antitrust law and its relationship with public enforcement.