@misc{9226953,
  abstract     = {{Despite the long-standing availability of damages claims under Swedish competition law, such disputes remain uncommon. The same was true for a long
time in other EU Member States, even though the Court of Justice of the European Union recognized the right to damages as early as 2001. A central
procedural challenge is that injured parties often lack access to the evidence
they need. The Damages Directive grants parties, under certain circumstances, access to evidence held by the defendant or a third party.

The Swedish legislature has interpreted the Directive to mean that the provisions on disclosure of evidence apply only once proceedings have been initiated. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether such an arrangement is
compatible with the EU principle of effectiveness. To achieve this purpose,
the thesis analyses how the principle of effectiveness is applied in the field of
private enforcement of competition law, how it relates to the question of pretrial disclosure, and how the absence of such a possibility in Swedish procedural law affects the exercise of the right to claim competition law damages.
The research questions are addressed through the application of the legal dogmatic and EU law methods.

The analysis shows that the likelihood of intervention by the Court of Justice
of the European Union is greater where the issue is closely connected to the
exercise of the right to competition law damages, particularly where it directly
affects that right, such as limitation rules. The possibility of requesting disclosure before proceedings are initiated may be of considerable importance
for the exercise of the right to damage. The thesis identifies three difficulties
that may arise where injured parties cannot request disclosure before proceedings are initiated: that the claim is not admitted for consideration, that the
claim ultimately cannot be substantiated, or that no claim is brought at all due
to insufficient incentives. The extent of these problems depends on the circumstances of the individual case, including the type of infringement and the
action taken, as well as the position of the injured party.

An injured party intending to bring a damages action in Sweden risks being
affected by the first and third difficulties. Without the possibility of requesting disclosure before proceedings have been initiated, there is a risk that the
injured party will be unable to draft the summons application in accordance
with Swedish law, which may result in the claim being dismissed. Furthermore, the current regulatory framework often leaves injured parties without
sufficient incentives to initiate a claim. Consequently, Swedish procedural
law may, in some cases, make it very difficult, perhaps even excessively so,
to exercise the right to damages.}},
  author       = {{Svensson, Hannah}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Edition innan rättegång i konkurrensrättsliga skadeståndsprocesser - En analys av hur svensk processrätt förhåller sig till effektivitetsprincipen}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}