Private enforcers of competition law, especially the infringers’ direct and indirect purchasers claiming compensation for the damages suffered, must bring evidence of the existence of an infringement of competition law, the loss suffered, the causal relation between the infringement and the damage, and the specific quantum. The most challenging element to prove is the infringement itself. Given competition authorities’ investigation powers, their decisions become a crucial element to ease the claimants’ burden of proof and to make compensation possible.
Keywords: Pre-emptive Administrative Ruling, Competition Authorities Decisions, Damages Actions, Competition Law Enforcement
Ignacio García-Perrote Martínez, PhD researcher and teaching assistant at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. For correspondence: <mailto:Ignacio.garciaperrote@upf.edu>.The comments from the referees are acknowledged. The author is responsible for any remaining error. The author is a member of a consolidated regional Research Group in Private Law (‘Grup de Recerca en Dret Patrimonial’, 2017 SGR 1636) funded by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants, dependent of the Catalan Government (AGAUR - Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca), and directed by Prof Josep Ferrer Riba (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona). The author acknowledges support by the Catalan Government since he holds a grant for the recruitment of early-stage research staff (FI 2018) awarded by the AGAUR under an open and competitive process and co-funded by the European Social Fund’s Operative Program of Catalonia 2014-2020 CCI 2014ES05SFOP007, as well as by the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness (Research Project DER2017-82673-R, Responsabilidad civil y mercado. La compensación del daño económico).
