The Commission continues to focus on cartels in the anti-trust sector; in 2009 the Commission adopted 6 cartel decisions, in 2008 it adopted 7 decisions. With the Commission's new approach on leniency and Court cases following practically every Commission decision, this area of law becomes ever more voluminous and more complex.

The Commission's fining policy also is evolving; total fines increased from nearly 3.5 billion € in 2000-20004 to 9.7 billion € in 2005-2009. Seven of the largest ten fines ever imposed on individual companies by the Commission have been adopted in the last three years.

Claeys and Casteels is proud to announce the first annual EU Cartel Law Conference, precisely to meet the need of companies, legal representatives, national competition authorities and academics to keep fully informed of these developments and to promote debate on discussion on the future direction of EU cartel policy.