Case C-253/23, ASG 2: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 28 January 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Dortmund – Germany) – ASG 2 Ausgleichsgesellschaft für die Sägeindustrie Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Competition – Article 101 TFEU – Directive 2014/104/EU – Actions for damages for infringements of competition law – Point 4 of Article 2– Concept of action for damages – Article 3(1) – Right to full compensation for harm suffered – Assignment of compensation claims to a provider of legal services – National law precluding recognition of the standing of such a provider with a view to group collection of those claims – Article 4 – Principle of effectiveness – First paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Right to effective judicial protection)
Date: 2025-01-28
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU competition policy, civil liability proceedings, claim, collective redress, damages, legal aid, restriction on competition, right to justice








C_202501619EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/1619


24.3.2025






Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 28 January 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Dortmund – Germany) – ASG 2 Ausgleichsgesellschaft für die Sägeindustrie Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen


(Case C-253/23,
                (1)
ASG 2)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Competition - Article 101 TFEU - Directive 2014/104/EU - Actions for damages for infringements of competition law - Point 4 of Article 2– Concept of ‘action for damages’ - Article 3(1) - Right to full compensation for harm suffered - Assignment of compensation claims to a provider of legal services - National law precluding recognition of the standing of such a provider with a view to group collection of those claims - Article 4 - Principle of effectiveness - First paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Right to effective judicial protection)
(C/2025/1619)
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Landgericht Dortmund

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: ASG 2 Ausgleichsgesellschaft für die Sägeindustrie Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH

Defendant: Land Nordrhein-Westfalen

Other parties: Otto Fuchs Beteiligungen KG, Bundeskartellamt

Operative part of the judgment

Article 101 TFEU, read in conjunction with point 4 of Article 2, Article 3(1) and Article 4 of Directive 2014/104/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 November 2014 on certain rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union, and the first paragraph of Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
must be interpreted as precluding an interpretation of national legislation which has the effect of preventing persons allegedly harmed by an infringement of competition law from assigning their rights to compensation to a provider of legal services so that it may assert them, collectively, in an action for damages that does not follow the decision of a competition authority finding such an infringement that is final and binding, in particular with regard to the establishment of the facts, provided that






—


national law does not provide for any other possibility of grouping together the individual claims of those injured persons that would ensure the effectiveness of the exercise of those rights to compensation, and










—


the bringing of an individual action for damages is, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, impossible or excessively difficult for those persons, with the result that they are deprived of their right to effective judicial protection.




Should it not be possible to interpret that national legislation in a way that complies with the requirements of EU law, those provisions of EU law require the national court to disapply that national legislation.


(1)  
            OJ C 261, 24.7.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/1619/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)