I. Introduction
Many years ago the European Parliament firstly raised the issue of damages out of competition law infringement. In its resolution with respect to the Commission's proposal of a competition law regulation (later Regulation No 171)) the European Parliament considered it essential that there are penalties for infringements of competition law and as soon as possible the issue of damages in this context should be regulated uniformly.2) The Commission itself expressed its affirmative view about private actions for damages for the first time in 1973.3) The ECJ in its decision BRT v SABAM4) spoke out, that the EU competition rules (now Article 101 and 102 TFEU5)) ‚create direct rights in respect of the individuals concerned which the national courts must safeguard‘.6) The General Advocate considered actions for damages as useful for the enforcement of competition rules and concluded that damages out of competition law infringements are based on Community law.7) This was later confirmed by the ECJ8) and stated in Regulation No 1/20039).