The EU leniency policy: reconciling effectiveness and fairness

The EU Leniency Policy offers a comprehensive description of the development of the policy, along with a normative framework that promises to ensure the full legitimacy of the leniency programme. To safeguard the legitimacy of the leniency programme, this book identifies that the European Commission’s policy should pursue not only effectiveness but also fairness. It is the first work to extensively analyse the effectiveness and fairness of the EU leniency policy. The book looks at why leniency is important and examines to what extent the current policy is effective and fair. The European Union (EU) leniency programme is a key weapon in the Commission’s fight against hard-core cartels which are the most harmful infringements in EU competition law. Much of the success of EU cartel enforcement depends on the continued effectiveness of the leniency policy and is especially critical in response to the growth of private enforcement. Looking back at the overall development since the inception of the first Leniency Notice, this book demonstrates that effectiveness and fairness have been successfully reconciled, and it has been updated to reflect the state of law as of 1 June 2017.