Más sobre aplicación privada del Derecho de la competencia. Un economista y unos pocos abogados son suficiente.

A través de ILO (Vid Kobe) me llega este interesante caso esloveno. Las cinco distribuidoras públicas (propiedad mayoritaria del Estado esloveno) subieron los precios de la electricidad simultáneamente. La autoridad de competencia les acusó de cártel y las sancionó. Las distribuidoras alegaron que, como todas ellas estaban controladas por el Estado, eran una sola empresa a efectos del derecho de la competencia (privilegio del grupo). El Tribunal Supremo esloveno confirmó la decisión de la autoridad (sólo tardó un año en resolver). Y, a continuación, pasó lo siguiente

“the question arose of whether and how the Slovenian households would be able to recover the overpaid sums (estimated to have totalled €15 million) from the electricity distributors. As the CPO decision was final, households would have to prove only the amount of damages before a regular court (the courts are bound by final CPO decisions as concerns the establishment of a breach). However, given that the damage suffered by individual households amounted to only approximately €30 to €300 each, the filing of individual damages claims - in view of the costs associated therewith - seemed unreasonable.(5) Needless to say, the electricity distributors continued to deny any wrongdoing on their part and refused to return the overpaid sums voluntarily.

Then Rado Pezdir, a Slovenian economist and publicist, established a civil society (una sociedad civil semejante a la de los arts. 1665 ss CC) …Supported by a law firm which agreed to advance the costs of litigation, the society, through mass media appeals, collected powers of attorney from nearly 75,000 Slovenian households. The distributors were then given a deadline for the voluntary repayment of the overcharged amounts: if the sums were not returned in due time, the society would file lawsuits on behalf of the households. One by one, the distributors gave in to the pressure; at the time of writing, the majority of Slovenian households have received credit notes corresponding to the overpaid amounts…

the next potential target are the Slovenian banks recently found to have colluded on automated teller machine withdrawal fees”.

Es una nueva muestra de que los obstáculos a la reclamación de daños derivados de cárteles no están en las reglas procesales y, por tanto, que podemos vivir sin otra Directiva.