Abstract

This paper deals with the defendant's right of defense in actions for damages «follow on» for infringements of the competition law provisions. The author illustrates the path started by the Italian Supreme Court in the ruling n. 2305 of February 2, 2007 (case Fonsai v. Nigriello) dividing it in three parts. The conclusion of the paper is that in the Italian system the defendant's right of defence has been gradually «eroded» so that in this type of actions it seems that the defendant is prevented from proving the lack of «causal link» between the infringement and the alleged harm.