Spain: The Audiencia Provincial of Barcelona partially upholds the appeal lodged by three envelopes manufacturers against eight first instance judgments which awarded damages in follow-on claims based on the envelope cartel decision of the Spanish Competition Authority (Planeta / Misiones Salesianas / Bankoa...)

The Audiencia Provincial of Barcelona has partially overturned eight judgments of two sections of the Juzgado de lo Mercantil of Barcelona which had awarded damages to several claimants in follow-on actions based on the Spanish envelope cartel case. The Audiencia Provincial partially accepts the envelopes manufacturers’ appeals, and consequently reduced the amount of the damages, substituting the quantification contained in the claimants’ reports for a judicial estimation amounting to an overcharge of a 20% of the purchase price. The Audiencia Provincial’s judgments also limit the responsibility of one of the defendants – who had a shorter participation on the infringement – to the period in which it participated in the infringement (only from 2006 on) instead of the whole period of