Competition damages law draft surprise removal from the agenda of the European Commission - 05/10/2009

A controversial draft of a private competition damages law draft due to go before the European Commision was suddenly removed from the agenda due to the unexpected intervention by the president, Jose Manuel Barroso. The document, aimed at assisting consumers to obtain damages against organisations that misuse their position to fix prices, contained a controversial "opt out" clause allowing a single claimant to launch a case representing an entire group.

The directive is likely to have been removed to provide an opportunity to get a better consensus from the member states on this difficult issue. It is expected that it will surface again.

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