LA TUTELA PENALE DELLA CONCORRENZA NELL¿ORDINAMENTO DELL¿UNIONE EUROPEA

This thesis deals with the question as to whether the public and the private enforcements of European competition law, as currently shaped, are able to generate a sufficient and effective deterrence level. Proposals aimed at addressing certain possible gaps and shortages in this respect, in particular the criminalization of cartel conducts, are eventually put forward. More in details, sections I and II carry out a preliminary assessment of the real level of deterrence stemming from public and private enforcement tools with respect to violations of European competition law. Section III poses the question as to whether a possible criminalization of certain anticompetitive conducts in breach of European competition law, in particular cartels, along the line of what already occurred in many jurisdictions over the last decades, might contribute to enhance the current level of deterrence in this context. Section IV analyzes specific legal issues connected to a possible criminalization of cartel conducts in breach of art. 101 TFUE through directive, such as the identification of an appropriate legal basis pursuant to the Treaties of the European Union, the definition of the criminal offence, the penalties that could be provided, the interplay between criminal sanctions and leniency programs, the coordination between competition authorities and criminal judges, and certain further issues.