Competition Litigation 2010 - Walder Wyss Ltd.

Walder Wyss & Partners Ltd.
Switzerland
Switzerland
10 Leniency
10.1 Is leniency offered by a national competition authority in
Switzerland? If so, is (a) a successful and (b) an
unsuccessful applicant for leniency given immunity from
civil claims?
Leniency is offered by the Swiss Competition Commission.
However, there is no direct link between leniency applications and
civil procedures. A leniency application might fully or partly
release the applicant from administrative sanctions but not from the
duty to pay damages or to remit illicitly earned profits.
10.2 Is (a) a successful and (b) an unsuccessful applicant for
leniency permitted to withhold evidence disclosed by it
when obtaining leniency in any subsequent court
proceedings?
There are no special rules in Swiss law permitting the applicant for
leniency to withhold evidence disclosed in the leniency application.
If the applicant refuses to produce such evidence upon request of
the court, the court might interpret such behaviour to the
disadvantage of the “non-cooperative” party when assessing the
evidence, e.g. by assuming that the content of a non-disclosed
document is in favour of the counterparty’s position.
Reto Jacobs
Walder Wyss & Partners Ltd.
Seefeldstrasse 123, P.O. Box 1236
8034 Zurich
Switzerland
Tel: +41 44 498 9898
Fax: +41 44 498 9899
Email: rjacobs@wwp.ch
URL: www.wwp.ch
Reto Jacobs is a partner of Walder Wyss & Partners and heads its
competition and telecoms team. He advises domestic and foreign
companies with respect to all competition law issues, represents
them before competition authorities and courts, and assists them in
complex merger filings. Reto Jacobs also provides advice on
distribution systems and supports various companies with respect to
their antitrust compliance programmes. Owing to his expertise, he
has - among others - a particularly profound knowledge in the
telecoms, media, energy, retail, car distribution, health, banking and
insurance sectors. He is co-editor of the competition law section of
the online journal Swisslex/Westlaw and a lecturer at the University
of St Gallen. Reto Jacobs is a regular speaker at competition law
conferences and has published various articles and books about
competition law.
Born in 1964, Reto Jacobs was educated at the University of St.
Gall (lic. iur. 1990, Dr. iur. 1997). He obtained an additional
degree in European competition law from the University of
Amsterdam (LL.M. 1993) and stayed as visiting scholar at the
University of California at Berkeley.
Gion Giger
Walder Wyss & Partners Ltd.
Seefeldstrasse 123, P.O. Box 1236
8034 Zurich
Switzerland
Tel: +41 44 498 9898
Fax: +41 44 498 9899
Email: ggiger@wwp.ch
URL: www.wwp.ch
Gion Giger is an associate in the Information Technology, Intellectual
Property and Competition Team of ww&p. His preferred areas of
practice include competition law, litigation before courts and
administrative bodies, corporate and commercial law as well as
legal aspects of information technology.
Born in 1975, Gion Giger was educated at the University of Berne
(lic. iur. 1999) and at the University of Zurich (Dr. iur. 2003). He
has working experience as a research assistant at the Universities of
Berne and Zurich, as a trainee with ww&p and as a law clerk at the
District Court of Horgen.
Walder Wyss & Partners is one of Switzerland’s leading law firms, specialising in corporate and commercial law, banking
and finance law, intellectual property and competition law, dispute resolution, and tax law. Walder Wyss & Partners is
a leading player in the field of competition law and has a long-standing tradition in advising a large number of clients.
The former president of the Swiss Competition Commission, Prof Dr Roland von Büren, acts as a counsel of Walder
Wyss & Partners.
The competition team of Walder Wyss & Partners is proficient in all aspects of the regulation of competition. It regularly
handles complex merger filings in Switzerland and co-ordinates them with the filings in other jurisdictions. The team
is routinely involved in questions of market dominance and the design of agreements that do not violate competition
law. It represents firms in administrative proceedings before competition authorities and courts. It also counsels the
clients in the establishment of compliance programs and advises bidders and government authorities in proceedings for
the award of public contracts.
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