Paucity of Consumer Redress Actions: A Critical Appraisal in Light of the Damages Directive for Competition Infringements

The studies carried out for and by the European Commission have demonstrated that one group of victims harmed bycompetition infringements, i.e. consumers, have never or rarely claimed compensation. This gave rise to an ongoingwork in the EU to enhance private competition law enforcement and to raise awareness among victims for over adecade. In 2014, the European Commission’s work on the enhancement of private competition law enforcementhas led to the publication of ‘The Directive on Certain Rules Governing Actions for Damages Under National Lawfor Infringements of the Competition Law Provisions of the Member States and of the European Union’. The articleaims to show that the Directive has failed to address the main issues resulting to the paucity of consumer damagesclaims, and therefore argues that the Directive falls short of providing necessary means to compensate consumers.