Europe To Formalize How Consumers, Companies Can Sue Big Fish Like Google Over Antitrust Damages

Feeling slighted by Google’s dominance in search? In Europe, you may soon be able to sue for damages. A new proposal published today by the European Commission proposes to spell out the details, and effectively make it easier and quicker, for consumers and businesses to sue large companies when they feel that they have been the victims of antitrust violations. These would sit on top of European fines and sanctions on companies for the same violations. The proposals have been in the works for some time. Took four years longer than I had hoped,” said Neelie Kroes, a VP of the European Commission noted today. The proposals would cover areas like cartels and abuses of dominant market position, the EC noted today in a statement. You can read the full proposal here. This will come as a welcome counterbalance to worries by companies that appeal to the EU for help in antitrust cases, who sometimes feel that some bigger companies get off too lightly. “Infringements of the antitrust rules cause serious harm to European consumers and businesses” said EC VP Joaqu?n Almunia, who oversees competition issues, in a statement. “We must ensure that all victims of these infringements can obtain redress for the harm they suffered, especially once a competition authority has found and sanctioned such a breach. It is true that the right to claim compensation before national courts exists in all EU Member States but businesses and citizens are not always able to exercise it in practice. Today’s proposal seeks to remove these obstacles”. It is also not the case that individuals and companies have not sued in the past, but because the process of doing so has been too difficult or costly, many have avoided this route. “Due to procedural obstacles and legal uncertainty, only few of these victims actually manage to obtain compensation. This situation particularly affects consumers and SMEs, which most often do not engage in legal action for reparation of their harm,” the EC notes. Only in 25% of all antitrust infringement decisions the Commission took in the past seven years did the victims seek to obtain compensation, it further notes. As with a lot of legal cases in Europe, the fact that there are different rules in each country also has slowed things down. More to come. Refresh for updates.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/aWo2x4HJH84/

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