After years of discussion across the EU antitrust community, Joaquín Almunia, the European Commission’s competition commissioner, today confirmed he will submit proposals to introduce an EU-wide private antitrust enforcement system through the European parliament’s legislative process.

New legislation has been proposed in Korea to open the door to private antitrust damages lawsuits, a Fair Trade Commission official announced today. Faaez Samadi in Singapore

Chemical company BASF today won the dismissal of a private antitrust damages lawsuit in the UK Supreme Court’s first ruling on a competition law case.

Italy’s Antitrust Authority has asked the country’s government to grant leniency applicants full immunity from criminal actions and partial immunity from follow-on claims for damages.

Finland’s largest ever damages claim trial for a competition infringement has started, as the country’s government and several municipalities demand €120 million in compensation from an asphalt cartel.

A German appellate court has refused to disclose a leniency application to potential claimants for follow-on damages in a coffee cartel case, confirming a lower court’s approach to the Pfleiderer ruling.

The Court of Appeal of England & Wales has overturned a Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) decision that limited the timespan for private plaintiffs to bring follow-on claims against a participant in the graphite cartel.

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has handed out its first follow-on damages for a competition violation to a former rival of Cardiff Bus, although it slashed the amount from around £50 million to less than £100,000.

Cruz Villalón, one of the European Court of Justice’s advocates general, has urged the court to allow the European Commission to sue cartelists for damages as a customer of the cartel, even if it has already fined them as Europe’s antitrust watchdog.

Paris’ Commercial Court has stayed a claim for damages by telecoms company Digicel against France Telecom until the Court of Appeal rules on whether the defendant abused its dominant position.

Disparity over the binding effects of national competition authority decisions continues to present obstacles for private damages claimants in Europe, according to a leading competition lawyer. Faaez Samadi in London