The Ambit of Judicial Competence After the EU Antitrust Damages Directive

This article explores how the EU Antitrust Damages Directive and linked initiatives affect the ambit of national courts’ competence. In particular, it focuses on the combination of the probative effect of national competition authority findings of infringement, the limitation of courts’ powers of disclosure, and advice to national courts on quantum under the new Directive on damages actions for competition infringements, and European Commission and national competition authority opinions to national courts under existing Regulation 1/2003 on the enforcement of the EU competition rules. The article contributes to the understanding of the interaction of courts and regulatory authorities in the enforcement of EU law. It argues that while the Directive aims to increase actions for damages in national courts, and in one sense therefore empowers those courts, in a number of ways it also constrains their jurisdiction. It finds that hard and soft law tools interact to limit national courts’ competence.