Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law – How to Kill Stand-Alone Actions in Slovak Style
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46282/bpf.2025.35Keywords:
EU law, competition law, Slovak law, Damages Directive (2014/104/EU), Act No. 350/2016 Coll., stand-alone actionsAbstract
EU competition law may be enforced in two ways: public enforcement via competition authorities (such as the European Commission or the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic) or private enforcement via actions for damages on national courts. The latter enforcement was supposed to be stimulated by Damages Directive (2014/104/EU), which was implemented on the Slovak level by Act No. 350/2016 Coll. Private actions for damages caused by infringements of competition law in the EU are far from frequent, especially within Slovakia. There are undisputably various causes for this, not all of them being legal. This contribution presents one particular legal cause for this struggle which have national roots, i.e. the impossibility of stand-alone actions for damages in Slovakia. The aim of this contribution is to show how stand-alone actions for damages are hindered by interpretation of procedural rules of the Slovak procedural code, thus leaving enforcement of competition law ineffective.
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