The Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal holds that Art. 6 ECHR implying a foreign language defendant has the right to translations of all documents necessary to prepare its defence in a Dutch antitrust procedure (North Sea Shrimps II)

Hardy, Robert; Bleeker, Arne

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19 Jan 2009

The Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal holds that Art. 6 ECHR implying a foreign language defendant has the right to translations of all documents necessary to prepare its defence in a Dutch antitrust procedure (North Sea Shrimps II)

KEYWORDS

Reference

Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (NMa), North Sea Shrimps II, Cases n° AWB 06/599, 06/604, 06/631, 06/671, 06/673, 19 January 2009 (Dutch)

Background On 19 January 2009, the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (the "CBb") ruled on two joint cases in which both a number of producer organisations and the Netherlands Competition Authority (the "NMa") had appealed decisions of the District Court Rotterdam (Rechtbank Rotterdam). The District Court had held that not all documents used in an investigatory procedure by the NMa have to be translated automatically for the benefits of a foreign defendant when brought before a Dutch court. This obligation only stretches so far as to enable a foreign defendant to obtain the necessary information on the facts and their background in order to be able to prepare the foreign undertaking's defence in court. Nevertheless, the District Court found that the NMa had not fulfilled this

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Authors

Robert Hardy
Simmons & Simmons (Brussels)

Belgium 6 contributions 5600 visits
Arne Bleeker
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Amsterdam)

Netherlands 2 contributions 2598 visits

Quotation

Robert Hardy, Arne Bleeker, The Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal holds that Art. 6 ECHR implying a foreign language defendant has the right to translations of all documents necessary to prepare its defence in a Dutch antitrust procedure (North Sea Shrimps II), 19 January 2009, e-Competitions January 2009, Art. N° 27213

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