Clifford Chance

Area overview

Clifford Chance provides an immediate, structured, co-ordinated and multi-jurisdictional response to cartel investigations. With cartel fines frequently running into hundreds of millions of euros, increased cooperation between regulators, widespread application of criminal sanctions and leniency and immunity requirements varying across jurisdictions, our experience, expertise and global coverage mean that we can significantly reduce our clients' potential exposure to cartel liabilities.

To advise on cross border cartels, we have established a Global Cartel Task Force that ensures that clients benefit from our substantial global cartel experience, our joint industry knowledge and seamless, practical and commercially focused advice. This task force has represented defendants and complainants on cartel investigations and leniency applications before competition authorities and government bodies of the EU and its member states, the US and various other jurisdictions. In doing so, we work closely with clients to minimise risks to their commercial interests and reputation by:

assisting with all strategic and procedural aspects of the investigative process, from dawn raid, through to the successful defence or resolution of the process and any resulting damages claims;
advising on the leniency, immunity and settlement requirements that apply in potentially relevant jurisdictions and devising early resolution strategies that take into account all actual and potential investigations, as well as our clients' wider commercial interests;
helping clients with the development of communication strategies to minimise reputational harm with the business press, customers and other commercial partners; and
representing clients in any resulting competition and antitrust litigation.

Recent experience includes advising:

Companies on European Commission investigations into various sectors, including sorbates, isostatic graphites, textiles, shipping, elevators and escalators, industrial thread, raw tobacco and tar;
A company in the ground breaking worldwide cartel investigation into marine hoses, including investigations by the US Department of Justice, the European Commission and the UK Office of Fair Trading and related litigation;
An international company in an antitrust investigation by the Dutch NMa into the cosmetics sector;
A major French bank in two cartel proceedings (EU and French), including assisting top management during dawn raids; and
Lafarge Cement S.A. on cartel proceedings before the Polish Competition Authority.

We also have significant expertise and experience in advising on all other types of restrictive agreement falling within Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and equivalent national legislation, and the application of Article 101(3) and/or so-called “block” exemptions to such agreements across a wide range of industry sectors.