On 11 March 2021, the CJEU was asked by a Spanish court to render a preliminary ruling on Article 5(1) of the Damages Directive (Directive 2014/104/EU)[1] in the context of an action for damages instituted in response to the trucks cartel.[2] We covered this earlier in Q (2021-1). The CJEU published the questions in Q2. The question put forward is as follows:

“Must Article 5(1) of 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 be interpreted as meaning that the disclosure of relevant evidence refers exclusively to existing documents in the control of the defendant or a third party or, in contrast, can Article 5(1) also include the disclosure of documents that must be created ex novo by the party to whom the request for information is made by compiling or classifying information, knowledge or data held by it?”

[1] Directive 2014/104/EU 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.

[2] AD and Others v. PACCAR Inc, DAF Trucks N.V. and DAF Trucks Deutschland GmbH, Case C-163/21.