Comments in response to the Commission’s study of the general principles applying to collective redress

On February 4, 2011, the EU Commission launched a new study to identify the common legal principles applying to collective redress, and later released a Commission Staff Working Document (the “Document”) organizing the results of that study around a series of questions. The Competition Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce (the “ICC Competition Commission”) wishes o submit its comments and answers to those questions. The following comments relate exclusively to competition matters.
The questions fall into three main categories:

• Potential added value of collective redress to improve the enforcement of EU law;
• General Principles to guide future EU initiatives on collective redress; and
• Scope of a coherent approach to collective redress.

Rather than respond to each question with a specific answer, an introductory section below contains general comments that summarize the ICC Competition Commission’s position, and the second section answers specific questions by referring to the corresponding general position. We believe that this approach will avoid needless repetition and allow the ICC Competition Commission to present a single, coherent argument.