On the occasion of the visit to this country by Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for Competition, a conference was held today, 4th July, organised by the Ministry of Trade and the Competition Authority on the subject of damages for competition law infringements. Attendance at the conference was excellent, and attendees listened to presentations covering various aspects of the topic, as well as having the opportunity to ask questions. Neelie Kroes gave a speech which, among other things, discussed the Commission's newly published White Paper on damages actions for breaches of competition law. Other speakers included the Director General of the Competition Authority, Páll Gunnar Pálsson, but in his speech he discussed the harm caused by competition law infringements, the ways to increase the efficiency of competition authorities in detecting such infringements, and finally, how private damages actions interact with the public remedies available to competition authorities. He then mentioned that, according to a recent law thesis written by Sonja Bjarnadóttir, a lawyer at the Competition Authority, the conclusion was reached that the victim's right to compensation for competition law infringements was not sufficiently guaranteed under Icelandic law, and several ways to facilitate private enforcement were reviewed. One of these was to pave the way for so-called class actions, and support was expressed for the Consumer Association's actions in this regard.
Speech Páls Gunnars Pálsson
Excerpt From the Master's thesis of Sonja Bjarnadóttir – Private law remedies in the form of damages for breaches of competition law
The White Paper White Paper on Damages Actions for Breach of the EC antitrust rules
"*" indicates required fields
