Binding effect of public enforcement decisions

Chapter 12 provides an overview of the legal status quo in the European Union relating to the binding effect in follow-on competition law claims, as well as of some of the legal issues which are likely to be the subject of controversy in years to come, in this regard. It addresses decisions declaring antitrust infringements adopted by the European Commission and by NCAs, as well as commitment decisions and decisions declaring infringements of merger control and State aid rules. It discusses the material, subjective and temporal scope of the binding effect. It also addresses other issues, such as the obligations of national courts relating to non-infringement decisions and on-going investigations, and the issue of negative declarations. Finally, it looks into the arguments which may be put forward by litigants before national courts to avoid or circumvent the binding effect of public enforcement decisions. It is argued that the case-law already provides answers to many of the issues which are likely to be raised, which one may arrive at through a systematic and coherent interpretation of the general principles of EU Law, as clarified by the Court.