Since the introduction of the EU Private Damages Directive 2014/104, the amount of private damages actions following competition law infringements have grown exponentially. Indeed, enforcement by private parties is viewed as a complementary limb to the enforcement of competition law by the European Commission and the national competition authorities. One aspect that deserves special attention in that regard is the “single economic unit” doctrine which allows several or all companies belonging to a group of companies to be held liable for an infringement of competition law they did not themselves commit. Recent rulings such as Athenian Brewery (C-393/23) in the context of private international law and ILVA (C-383/23) with regard to liability for infringements of the GDPR furthermore showcase the far-reaching implications of the single economic unit doctrine.
This post delves deeper into the possible liability of the different members of a group of companies when only one of them has been found to infringe EU competition law. Who can be liable, and how to manage this risk?
Corporate Finance Lab 