E.V.O. (DUTCH SHIPPERS’ COUNCIL) ENDORSES CLAIMS FUNDING INTERNATIONAL TO COMPANIES CLAIMING AGAINST AIR FREIGHT CARTELS
- E.V.O. – The Dutch Council of Shipping Companies representing the transport divisions of 30,000 companies endorses claims by companies damaged by the cartel – EU decision imminent
- Claim in the Netherlands to be part of Europe’s largest ever group claim for civil damages
Hundreds of Dutch and European companies are now in line to claim damages from the world’s major airlines for overcharging during the operation of a worldwide air freight cartel. The claims are now being backed by the EVO in the Netherlands which will be initiated following an announcement by the EU’s Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, expected shortly.
The announcement follows a two-year investigation by the EU into price-fixing and cartel activity in which investigators discovered a conspiracy by most of the world’s major airlines to fix the price of air freight services.
The EVO has formally endorsed a company called Claims Funding International plc, which is offering to conduct the litigation in the Netherlands on the basis that it will fund the case and assume all the risk in return for a commission, only if successful.
Claims Funding International (CFI) is a ‘litigation funding’ company set up to provide access to justice for businesses who otherwise could not afford or would not want to take action against the airlines on their own. This is the first time there has ever been an anti cartel case in Holland backed by a litigation funder. It signals a new era for victims of cartels actually recovering losses caused by the illegal behaviour of cartelists.
CFI is owned by Australian law firm, Maurice Blackburn who have been conducting the air freight litigation in Australia for almost 3 years and came to Europe to offer their expertise and financial backing. The CFI group has almost 300 businesses covering Australia, Holland, France, UK, Belgium, Switzerland and other countries signed up to pursue claims including major names in the medical equipment, automotive, electronics, food and fashion industries, all of whom could receive a share of the estimated hundreds of millions that airlines overcharged their customers.
The eventual freight cartel claims are expected to be the largest civil claim for cartel damages ever in Europe. Ms Kroes declared previously in a speech to the European Parliament in March 2009 that the EU would seek to discourage cartel activity via a tripartite system of investigation, fines for infringement and civil reparation for the victims. Civil liability, now established via this judgment, will open the way for companies to claim for reparation back to 2000. CFI, has been contacting cartel victims for the last 12 months offering to take an assignment of the company’s right to sue in return for a commission, only if successful.
Peter Koutsoukis, managing director of CFI, said: “The announcement of the EVO’s backing our company’s group to its 30,000 members gives us great confidence our clients will be able to successfully recover as we will have substantial negotiating strength. We anticipate claiming hundreds of millions of euros in damages. Unfortunately, many of the world’s global airlines appear to have overcharged their customers for many years and we intend to get them their money back and hopefully the action we take will be a strong deterrent to future cartel behaviour.
We decided to proceed in the Netherlands first because it is a proud trading nation with a reliable system of law and has experience in dealing with cartel cases. The Netherlands is a leader in implementing European law and policy.”
The United States, Canadian and Australian competition authorities have already found that instead of letting market forces dictate prices for freight, the airlines conspired to fix prices. 16 airlines pleaded guilty to conspiring to fix prices between 2000-2007 and it appears to have been done by a conspiracy to set and impose security, war risk and fuel “surcharges” on top of the regular freight charges. It is estimated that airfreight users paid 10% over true market rates for the seven years between 2000 and early 2007.
