Project objectives
The main objective of the project is to examine the status of private antitrust enforcement in CEE countries. In particular, how the above enforcement was affected by the transposition of the Damages Directive (Directive 2014/104/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 November 2014 on certain rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union, J L 349, 5.12.2014, pp. 1–19) to the legal systems of the EU Member States. Also, realisation of the project aims to enable for the assessment of the effectiveness of this method of intervention in the primarily private law domain. Research that kind is also important, because it will allow to formulate some conclusions and recommendations in relation to possible, similar initiatives in the future.
Until now among others the following activities have been completed when pursuing the project: No. 4/2022 of the "Internet Antitrust and Regulatory Quarterly" (iKAR) dedicated to private antitrust enforcement was issued, with the keynote – „Private antitrust enforcement – has something changed here?” (https://press.wz.uw.edu.pl/ikar/vol10/iss4/) and international seminar “Challenges for private enforcement in competition law” on 30 March 2022 was organized (https://cars.wz.uw.edu.pl/pl/wydarzenia/konferencje-i-seminaria/1279-seminarium-naukowe-wyzwania-dla-private-enforcement-w-prawie-konkurencji.html). Additionally, what should be mentioned as an important activity within the project’s framework is an active participation in webinar “Antitrust private enforcement – why isn’t it working in the Baltic States and in Poland? What can we learn from the Netherlands and the UK?” organized by ASCOLA on 22 June 2022.
Another activity of the project were questionaries sent to the Polish District Courts dealing with antitrust damages claims, in order to obtain information regarding this kind of cases in Polish courts. Regardless of the above initiative, information about antitrust damages claims is being collected also from other sources to assess the approximate scale of development of private enforcement in Poland.
Recently, an important activity of the project is participation in edition of monography “Private Enforcement of Competition Law and Public Procurement Rules in Selected Central and Eastern European Union Countries” ed. O. Blažo (published by Wolters Kluwer 2025 – book is available in open access here: https://lnkd.in/dR-jUGsS) and preparing with dr hab. Anna Piszcz, prof. UwB a chapter concerning status of private antitrust enforcement in Poland (Private enforcement of competition law in Poland: Where we are and how to accelerate the use of private litigation).
Another, upcoming activity within the project is edition of the following issue of "Internet Antitrust and Regulatory Quarterly" (iKAR) planned in 2026, with the keynote - “Private antitrust enforcement once again”. The idea of the issue is to discuss current status and development of private antitrust enforcement in Poland and beyond.
The main assumptions of the research project are the following:
1. Analysis of laws governing private antitrust enforcement in CEE countries within the scope necessary for the project.
2. Comparative approach, i.e. Polish law and laws of CEE countries against the background of laws applicable to private antitrust enforcement in other, selected legal systems.
3. Collection of available case-law and information about pending court cases.
4. Analysis of available datasets in relations to judgements issued within the scope of the project.
5. Application of laws adopted in the framework of transposition of the Damages Directive.
6. The role of Competition Authorities (CAs) in court proceedings relating to private antitrust enforcement.
7. Impact of binding force of the CAs’ decisions on court proceedings.
8. The main challenges for court proceedings in the scope of antitrust damages claims.
9. Juxtaposition of public and private enforcement role in CEE countries in comparative terms.
We invite all having interest in cooperation withing the scope of the project. Please contact:
Dr Dominik Wolski (research investigator)
