The time taken by the European judiciary to adjudicate on cases is of increasing concern. Failure by the General Court to conclude proceedings within a reasonable time triggers a right to compensation. In order to obtain damages, claimants need to make a fresh application before the General Court, separate from that seeking to annul or reduce the fines imposed by the Commission in antitrust cases. A number of damages actions for delayed EU Court proceedings were brought last year. It is now clear that the EU Courts will be held liable for their own delays. However, a number of questions remain unanswered, including the determination of the quantification of the damages.
Excessive Delays at the GC and the Right to a Fair Trial within a Reasonable Time -
It is widely understood that the GC is overloaded and suffers from a significant backlog of cases, in particular as a result of the ever increasing number of appeals of EU decisions in complex competition cases. While this inevitably means that the GC will take longer to process cases, an appellant still has a right to a fair trial within a reasonable time.
Please see full publication below for more information.
