Controversial proposals to give victims of anti-competitive conduct greater scope to pursue claims for damages are hanging in the balance after slipping from next week’s European Commission agenda.

Commission officials had been due to discuss launching the long-awaited package – which would have introduced an EU-wide system of compensation and greater disclosure rights to facilitate victims’ damages actions – at a meeting in Brussels on Friday. But, at the eleventh-hour, the matter was pulled off the table, according to people involved.