ABSTRACT
Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty impose obligations on undertakings that give rise to directly effective private rights of action, which individuals and undertakings may enforce in the national courts of the Member States. Competition law rights may be invoked as a shield (ie by way of defence to a claim) and as a sword (ie as a cause of action-eg by way of a claim for an injunction to restrain actual or threatened prohibited conduct or a claim for damages in respect of loss and damage caused by prohibited behaviour).
