Confidentiality of leniency documents in Finland, especially in relation to actions for antitrust damages
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33344/vol13iss1pp122-149Keywords:
leniency, fines in cartel cases, immunity from fines, reduction of fines, Antitrust Damages, confidentiality, publicity of documents, disclosure of evidenceAbstract
During leniency procedure, the participating companies are obliged to give self-incriminating statements to antitrust authorities. There is a risk that those statements will be utilized as evidence in a court of law by a party who was damaged by the spoken trust arrangement. These actions for damages can impose heavy financial losses to the participating companies. Therefore, to secure the attractiveness of the leniency procedure, the self-incriminating documents should be exempted from the disclosure of evidence or discovery. The purpose of this article is to scrutinize the effects of the new EU directive 2014/104/EU on national regulations which are located in the Finnish Act of Antitrust Damages Actions (laki kilpailuoikeudellisista vahingonkorvauksista, 1077/2016), and review what this means for the incentives to participate in leniency procedure. The Directive made the rules of disclosure of leniency documentation more stringent in comparison with the preceding legislation. Therefore, the legal position of the participating company has weakened. These are the main findings.
