Competition Law and Economics - Advances in the Competition Policy Enforcement in the EU and North America

BOOKS AND ACADEMIC ARTICLES 2011 EE - Edward Elgar

Collection of essays to which Prof. Sérvulo Correia contributed the paper "The effectiveness and limitations of the Portuguese system of competition law enforcement by administrative and civil procedural means."

"Sérvulo Correia discusses the interaction of private parties and the powers and responsabilities of the NCA and the domains of the Portuguese system of competition law with respect to public and private enforecement. Public enforcement, which is dominant, is entrusted to the NCA, subject to judicial control of the Trade Court of Lisbon, a specialized court. Merger decisions are subject to an admoninistrative procedure and anti-competitive  behaviour to a special procedure intermediate between penal and civil procedures (contra-ordenações). There have been only two cases of private enforcement in the last 10 years or so, without success to the complaintant, and there is no incentive as in other European countries for this type of actions. However, the Portuguese legal system already contains a class action known as acção popular that has been used recently in a successful case. Finally, private parties can also use the courts for compensation as a follow on to a case successfully decided by the NCA.", in Introduction.