ANTITRUST | The CJEU ruled on the disclosure of evidence in private enforcement actions

On 29 January 2026, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) released  its judgment (Judgment) on case C-286/24 (Meliá/Ius Omnibus), initiated following the request for preliminary ruling (Request) raised by the Portuguese Supreme Court. The Requested concerned the interpretation of Article 5 of Directive No. 2014/2014 concerning private enforcement actions (the Damages Directive), according to which in an action arising from infringements of Competition Law, the plaintiff can request the disclosure of means of evidence (Motion) if they submit a reasoned statement containing sufficient elements for justifying the plausibility of the action for damages.  In the Judgment, the CJEU stated that the request for evidence disclosure can be filed even before an action for damages has been proposed. The CJEU also remarked that the decision of the European Commission having found an infringement of EU Competition Law due to a vertical restraint was not sufficient, in itself, to ground the Motion. As a result, according to the CJEU, the plaintiff was still burdened to indicate, even on a summary basis, the damage suffered and the causal link between the anticompetitive conduct and the harm.

Newsletter n. 115 – February 2026