Nota sobre la sentencia del TJCE Akzo Nobel y otros de 14 de septiembre de 2010: límites al privilegio legal de las comunicaciones entre abogados y sus clientes

Abstract

28 years after the decision AM &S of the ECJ the confidentiality of communications between lawyers and clients in European Antitrust sanctioning proceedings is still raising questions. During the inspections carried out by the European Commission there are still conflicts about the access to certain documents. The ECJ in its decision AKZO of September 2010 has reminded us the limits of this fundamental right. The legal privilege is only applicable to communications of external lawyers. Thus, the communications between the in house counsel and the managers of a company are not protected and the European Commission can include these documents its sanctioning file.