Group Litigation in European Competition Law

This book makes a valuable contribution to the current discussion regarding the private enforcement of competition law, particularly through the use of group litigation. Forms of group litigation are debated not only at the European level, but in countries worldwide. Policy makers, practitioners and academics alike can draw relevant insights about the potentials and pitfalls of group litigation mechanisms. The framework developed allows for the evaluation of existing forms of group litigation, such as those already being used in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Moreover, through the analysis a picture of the optimal form of group litigation in any context emerges. The analysis highlights the necessary trade-offs and choices any society contemplating the introduction of group litigation into their legal system – not only in the area of competition law – will have to face.


About the book
‘[..] a far reaching insight into the problems linked to competition barriers and the different ways of compensating those who fall victim to them. [an] industrious intellectual undertaking.’
in Bulletin Quotidien Europe, 15 June 2011

‘Dr Keske’s interesting book points up the significant difficulties the Commission faces in promoting group competition litigation even taken from the fairly narrow standpoint of an economic analysis of its effectiveness. Overall, she tackles an important subject with rigour, and the skeleton on which she hangs her economic argument is clearly and robustly articulated. Lawyers among her readers will find some of her assumptions and arguments surprising—even challenging—but the conclusions she draws are no less relevant to the ongoing policy debate in this area because of that. ‘
Vincent Smith in (2012) 37 E.L. Rev. 535


About the author
Dr Keske has a degree in Economics (Diplom-Volkswirtschaftslehre) from the University of Tübingen, Germany and the ”European Master in Law and Economics” (LL.M.) from the Universities of Ghent, Belgium and Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She was one of the first scholars to follow the Erasmus Mundus Doctoral program “European Doctorate in Law and Economics” of the Universities in Rotterdam and Bologna and received her Doctorate for an earlier version of this book in December 2009. Along with several publications, she co-authored the study in support of the impact assessment of the EC White Paper on antitrust damages actions “Making antitrust damages actions more effective in the EU”. Currently, Dr Keske is working at the German Federal Competition Authority (Bundeskartellamt).