Memo: Antitrust: Commissioner Kroes welcomes the European Parliament’s cross-party support for damages for consumer and business victims of competition breaches

European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes welcomed the strong cross-party support received in today’s resolution by the European Parliament on the Commission’s White Paper on damages: an initiative designed to improve the ways in which victims of competition breaches can claim compensation for the harm they suffered. Due to the ineffectiveness of the legal rules currently in place, victims of competition law infringements each year forego compensation payments of many billions of euros. In today’s vote, which affirmed the Parliamentary committee report of 2 March, the Parliament provided valuable support and comments on this initiative. In April 2008, the Commission presented a set of specific measures to improve the legal rules and procedures governing damages actions. This followed a Green Paper published in 2005. The Commission is carefully considering the valuable constructive comments and suggestions received from Parliament, not only in the resolution adopted but also during numerous debates and discussions since 2005, and will take these into account when deciding on the appropriate measures to follow-up on the White Paper.