Antitrust Collective Redress in Spain: Testing the System Through the Automobile Cartel Litigation
Spain has become one of Europe’s leading laboratories for cartel damages litigation without ever developing an effective collective redress mechanism. While the country still awaits the full implementation of the Representative Actions Directive, the ongoing automobile cartel damages litigation already reveals the shortcomings of the existing system. It is not simply that the current mechanisms are inefficient, their complexity may itself become a litigation asset for defendants. The seven collective claims filed by the Spanish Consumers’ Organisation (OCU) expose a paradox at the heart of Spanish collective redress: a system that generates procedural complexity before judgment and individualized enforcement after judgment.
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