On 21 January 2021 MLex reported that British Airways, KLM and other airlines attended a hearing before the Court of Justice with two Dutch litigation vehicles, Stichting Cartel Compensation and Equilib Netherlands.[1] This case concerned the air cargo cartel for which the European Commission had imposed fines on the airlines in 2010. Now, in 2021, the question was whether the Amsterdam District Court could also adjudicate damage that, in brief, had arisen before the entry into force of Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003.[2] The English court had already ruled that such damage must be disregarded, but the Amsterdam District Court had held that it had to have independent jurisdiction to adjudicate matters from that period in the interest of promoting legal certainty. Advocate General Michal Bobek announced he would deliver his non-binding opinion on 13 April 2021. The court will then study that opinion and issue a ruling at a later date, MLex reported.

[1]               A. Boyce, “Airlines, litigation vehicles scrap over Dutch court’s ‘competence’ for cartel claims at Top EU court’, 21 January 2021. It regards case number C-819/19 (Stichting Cartel compensation and Others).

[2]              Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty.