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leniency corporate statements and (ii) settlement submissions. The dis-
closure of these documents seriously risks the effectiveness of the
leniency program and settlements procedures. Under the Proposal for
Directive, a national court can never order disclosure of such docu-
ments in an action for damages.
Sanctions
The national courts can impose sanctions on parties, third parties
and their legal representatives in the event of failure or refusal to com-
ply with any court’s disclosure order, the destruction of relevant evi-
dence, failure or refusal to comply with the obligations imposed by a
court order protecting confidential information or abuse of the rights
related to the disclosure of evidence.
Limitation Periods
The Proposal for Directive introduces time limits in order to pro-
vide harmonization among the member states. As per Article 10 there-
in, the limitation period shall not begin to run before an injured party
knows or can reasonably be expected to have knowledge of the com-
petition law infringement. Therefore, the victims of the competition
law infringement are allowed sufficient time (at least 5 years) to bring
an action for damages after they know or can reasonably be expected
to know of the infringement. When a competition authority conducts
investigations or proceedings related to an alleged infringement, which
is the subject of a damages lawsuit, the limitation period is suspended.
The suspension period shall end at the earliest 1 year after the infringe-
ment decision has become final or the proceedings are terminated.
The limitation period shall not begin to run unless the victims of
the infringement know or can reasonably be expected to be aware of
the infringing behavior, of the qualification of such behavior as an
infringement of EU or national competition law and of the fact that the
infringement caused harm to them by identified cartel members.
Joint and Several Liability
The Proposal for Directive introduces certain modifications based
on a liability regime. As per Article 11 therein, where several under-
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