The Development of General Principles for EU Competition Law Enforcement – The Protection of Legal Professional Privilege

This papers discusses the scope of the EU principle of legal professional privilege ('LPP') and the mechanisms for bottom-up integration. LPP refers to the confidential nature of certain written communications between lawyer and client. Bottom-up integration is the process whereby domestic legal principles are elevated to EU legal principles. The recent Akzo Nobel judgment of the European Court of Justice revisits the principle of LPP and clarifies the conditions for bottom-up integration