Leniency and competition law: An overview of EU and national case law

I. Introduction This article constitutes a review of the articles published on e-Competitions between 2005 and 2010 concerning European leniency programmes. It is not an overview of the leniency regimes applicable in jurisdictions covered by the e-Competitions database. Rather, it is an introduction to certain prominent issues arisen in the fields of leniency legislation and enforcement. For a more detailed analysis of the applicable leniency regimes of European countries, please refer to the entries in the online Antitrust Encyclopedia [1]. Leniency programmes are now at the heart of antitrust enforcement worldwide, particularly in Europe. The European Commission first adopted a leniency programme in 1996 [2]. To address criticism that the regime was not providing sufficient legal