The undertaking in competition law

Organised by

• Department of Law

The notion undertaking can address a plurality of entities as an economic unit, the purpose and exact requirements of which still lack clarification. The extended case law seems to find an endpoint in the Sumal-judgment (C-882/19) that allows for the subsidiaries’ liability of a parent company’s infringement. An economic concept can provide justification for the reach of the newly confirmed concept of the economic unit. It shows that the principle of effective deterrence requires also the subsidiaries’ liability due to particularities of the private enforcement of competition law. However, for enforcement purposes, actions can be directed only to persons as GA Kokott famously mentioned back in 2007 for decisions of competition authorities (C-280/06, para. 69). It follows, that the concept of the economic unit requires joint and several liability of entities of the economic unit towards third parties (externally) and amongst the entities of the economic unit (internally).