The parent-subsidiary relationship in EU antitrust law and the AEG Telefunken presumption: between the effectiveness of competition law and the protection of fundamental rights

Authors

Lorenzo Pace, Professor of Law, Università degli Studi del Molise; LL.M. (Universität Hamburg); Ph.D. Università “La Sapienza”, Rome;Author of, inter alia , I fondamenti del diritto europeo antitrust , Giuffrè, 2007; European Antitrust Law , Edward Elgar, 2007, Derecho europeo de la competentia , Marcial Pons, 2007; He is the editor of European Competition Law – The impact of the Commission’s Guidance on Article 102 (with contributions by J.-E. Mestamecker; L. Ortiz Blanco; L.F. Pace; C. Prieto; R. Whish), Edward Elgar, 2011; Nuove tendenze del diritto dell’Unione europea dopo il Trattato di Lisbona (with contributions by A. Adinolfi, R. Cafari Panico, S.M. Carbone, L. Daniele, C. Morviducci, F. Munari, B. Nascimbene, L.F. Pace, G. Strozzi, A. Tizzano, G.L. Tosato, U. Villani), Giuffrè, 2012; Dizionario sistematico del diritto della concorrenza , Jovene, 2013; Attoreny at Law, RomeFollow

Keywords

Relationship between Competition Law and Fundamental rights, Concept of Undertaking, Parent-Subsidiary relationship in Corporate Groups, Imputability of Sanctions in Corporate Groups, Standard of reasoning of the Commission

Abstract

The increasingly frequent reference to the protection of fundamental rights in the application of EU antitrust law is a trend that has grown significantly alongside the reforms brought about by Regulation 1/2003. Greater attention being given to fundamental rights is evident in the development of the application of the AEG Telefunken presumption, whereby a parent company may be penalized for the antitrust infringements of its wholly-owned subsidiary on the ground that the parent and the subsidiary constitute a single economic entity, and hence a single “undertaking”. Recently, the Court of Justice has confirmed the lawfulness of that presumption. However, increasing attention is now given to the adequacy of the Commission’s reasoning, particularly when the Commission rejects arguments made by parent companies to rebut the presumption. These developments suggest that the growing importance of fundamental rights protection may under certain conditions temper the principle of the effectiveness of EU competition law.

Recommended Citation

Pace, L. (2014). The parent-subsidiary relationship in EU antitrust law and the AEG Telefunken presumption: between the effectiveness of competition law and the protection of fundamental rights. Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, 7(10), 191-207. Retrieved from https://press.wz.uw.edu.pl/yars/vol7/iss10/8

First Page

191

Last Page

207

Page Count

16

Publisher

University of Warsaw

Publication Date

2014-01-01