With regard to the assessment of competition evidence, in a recent judgment, the High Court of Cassation and Justice established that it is essential to adopt a holistic perspective in the assessment of evidence, a method established and developed by the European courts.
This approach involves analysing the evidence in the overall context of the whole proceedings under investigation, in light of the European judicial practice which recognises the importance of identifying a “common collection of strong incriminating evidence”.
Thus, the court’s decision highlighted the European standard for assessing evidence in competition law, emphasising that although some individual pieces of evidence, considered separately, may not meet the strict criteria alone, collectively they should support the allegations in a satisfactory manner.
This approach gives competition authorities the freedom to exercise their judgment in assessing the evidence, focusing primarily on its credibility, while respecting the principles of fairness and the presumption of innocence.
The judgment of the High Court of Cassation and Justice is therefore an important milestone in the development of case law on the assessment of competition evidence.