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Jalabert-Doury, Nathalie --- "France" [2010] ELECD 757; in Foer, A. Albert; Cuneo, W. Jonathan (eds), "The International Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: The International Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law

Editor(s): Foer, A. Albert; Cuneo, W. Jonathan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848448773

Section: Chapter 17

Section Title: France

Author(s): Jalabert-Doury, Nathalie

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

17 France
Nathalie Jalabert-Doury1


Introduction
In France, private enforcement actions in the antitrust field are dealt with under general
tort law rules. Claims are brought pursuant to article 1382 of the Civil Code, which pro-
vides that any act which causes damage to another person obliges the party at fault to
compensate the victim.
For years, antitrust enforcement was essentially public, with the Autorité de la
Concurrence (the French Competition Authority or FCA) and the European Commission
(EC) being empowered to investigate and impose injunctions and fines on compa-
nies participating in antitrust violations. An agency of the Ministry of Economy, the
Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes
(DGCCRF) is also empowered to investigate and settle minor cases. However, none of
these authorities is empowered to grant damages.
In the past decade, private enforcement actions have developed and are today
more numerous than they used to be. But so far, private enforcement remains limited
in France, primarily due to restrictions of French judicial procedures concerning access
by private parties to evidence, and the absence of any true group or representative
actions.
However, the European Commission is advocating the merits of private enforcement to
Member States and has made a series of recommendations to promote effective access to
justice for victims of competition law infringements ­ the latest being a draft proposal for
a directive on rules governing damages actions for infringement of European competition
law which goes far beyond ...