A Step Forward in the Application of EU Competition Law by National Courts: The Courage Case

In its Ruling of September 20, 2001, Courage Ltd versus Bernard Crehan, C-453/99, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (hereinafter referred to as ECJ), gave judgement yet again on the direct applicability of community law and the civil consequences of the infringement of such law: private individuals who have been party to an infringement of community competition law may claim compensation for damages from other contracting parties before a national judge, provided that the claimants of such damages do not bear significant responsibility for the distortion of the competition in question.