The Court of Justice in Case C-605/21 ruled that the former Czech rules on limitation in EU competition law cases are not compatible with EU law. The limitation period for actions for damages for an infringement of EU competition law cannot start until the infringement ends and the injured party knows of the behavior constituting the infringement.

Heureka, a Czech company operating a price comparison portal, claimed that Google favored its own service on search results pages, causing harm to Heureka's service. The Czech court questioned the compatibility of the old Czech limitation period with EU law.

The Court held that EU law requires the limitation period to start only when the infringement ends and the injured party has the necessary information to bring an action for damages. Knowledge of this information typically coincides with the publication of the Commission's decision in the Official Journal.

The Court emphasized the need to suspend or interrupt the limitation period during Commission investigations and highlighted the importance of Directive 2014/104, which mandates the suspension of the limitation period until one year after the Commission's decision becomes final.

As a result, the Court found the former Czech rules on limitation incompatible with EU law, making it practically impossible or excessively difficult for parties to claim compensation for harm resulting from competition law infringements.