The Single Economic Entity Doctrine and Corporate Group Responsibility in European Antitrust Law

In light of a changing corporate culture, the European institutions have been faced with interpretative questions that were not contemplated by the original statutory schemes of European antitrust enforcement. One of these issues - the application of the European antitrust provisions to the relationship between a parent and a subsidiary company - has led the Commission and the ECJ to develop the concept 'single economic entity' for the purpose of applying the antitrust provisions to corporate groups. However, both the Commission and the Court have regularly refrained from a detailed analysis of the specific circumstances of consideration for this legal concept; and as a result the assessment of legally independent but economically affiliated companies is one of the most contentiously debated issues of European antitrust law.