Case C-2/23, FL und KM Baugesellschaft and S: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 30 October 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Oberlandesgericht Wien – Austria) – FL und KM Baugesellschaft m.b.H. & Co. KG, S AG (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Competition – Article 101 TFEU – Effectiveness – Directive 2014/104/EU – Rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union – Article 6(6) and (7) – Article 7(1) – Directive 2019/1/EU – Empowering the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market – Article 31(3) – Scope – Mechanism for mutual administrative and judicial assistance between national authorities – Transfer of the file from a competition authority to an authority conducting a criminal investigation – Addition to the file of a criminal investigation of leniency statements and settlement submissions and their annexes – Access to those documents by persons under investigation and other parties to such proceedings)
Date: 2025-10-30
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU competition policy, civil liability proceedings, competition, competition law, criminal procedure, damages, disclosure of information, evidence, rights of the defence








C_202506587EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/6587


22.12.2025






Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 30 October 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Oberlandesgericht Wien – Austria) – FL und KM Baugesellschaft m.b.H. & Co. KG, S AG


(Case C-2/23,
                (1)
FL und KM Baugesellschaft and S)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Competition - Article 101 TFEU - Effectiveness - Directive 2014/104/EU - Rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union - Article 6(6) and (7) - Article 7(1) - Directive 2019/1/EU - Empowering the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market - Article 31(3) - Scope - Mechanism for mutual administrative and judicial assistance between national authorities - Transfer of the file from a competition authority to an authority conducting a criminal investigation - Addition to the file of a criminal investigation of leniency statements and settlement submissions and their annexes - Access to those documents by persons under investigation and other parties to such proceedings)
(C/2025/6587)
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Oberlandesgericht Wien

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: FL und KM Baugesellschaft m.b.H. & Co. KG, S AG

Intervener: Zentrale Staatsanwaltschaft zur Verfolgung von Wirtschaftsstrafsachen und Korruption

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 101 TFEU
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which the national competition authority and the national cartel court are required, in the context of the mechanism for administrative assistance laid down in that legislation, to transmit to the public prosecutor’s office, upon its request, the files of that competition authority and of that cartel court, including leniency statements and settlement submissions in those files, as well as the information obtained from them, provided that such a mechanism does not undermine the effectiveness of that article.










2.


Article 31(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market
must be interpreted as meaning that the protection which it affords to leniency statements and to settlement submissions does not cover documents and information provided in order to explain, specify in detail and prove the content of those statements or submissions.










3.


Article 31(3) of Directive 2019/1, read in the light of the first and second paragraphs of Article 47 and Article 48(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which, in the context of criminal proceedings which do not concern an infringement of competition law, persons under investigation who are not the authors of those statements or submissions have the right of access to leniency statements and settlement submissions, drawn up for the purposes of proceedings before a national competition authority and transmitted to national criminal authorities, but as precluding national legislation under which such right of access is granted to other parties to those criminal proceedings, in particular, persons harmed by the infringement of competition law concerned who seek compensation for the harm caused by that infringement.






(1)  
            OJ C 127, 11.4.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/6587/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)