Where a national competition authority operates a leniency programme in order to ensure the effective application of Article 101 TFEU, parties adversely affected by a cartel may not, for the purpose of bringing civil-law claims, be given access to self-incriminating statements voluntarily provided by leniency applicants and in which the applicants effectively admit and describe to the authority their participation in an infringement of Article 101 TFEU as this could substantially reduce the attractiveness and thus the effectiveness of the authority's leniency programme and in turn undermine the effective enforcement by the authority of Article 101 TFEU. While the denial of such access may create obstacles to or hinder to some extent an allegedly injured party's fundamental right to an effective remedy and a fair trial guaranteed by Article 47, in conjunction with Article 51(1), of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the interference with that right is justified by the legitimate aim of ensuring the effective enforcement of Article 101 TFEU by national competition authorities and private interests in detecting and punishing cartels.
It would run counter to the fundamental right to an effective remedy and a fair trial guaranteed by Article 47, in conjunction with Article 51(1), of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union if access to other pre-existing documents submitted by a leniency applicant in the course of a leniency procedure and which would assist parties allegedly adversely affected by a cartel in the establishment, for the purposes of a private action for damages, of the existence of an illegal act in breach of Article 101 TFEU, damage to those parties and a causal link between the damage and the breach, were denied by the national competition authority."