The master’s thesis examines the relationship between the economic unit doctrine in EU competition law and the rules on international jurisdiction under Article 8(1) of the Brussels Ibis Regulation. Through the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the thesis presents the development and expansion of liability for infringements of EU competition law within economic units. A parent company has long been held liable for the conduct of its subsidiaries if it exercises decisive influence over them. Under additional conditions, the CJEU also confirmed the liability of subsidiaries for infringements committed by the parent company. Although the CJEU has not yet ruled on the liability of sister companies, the case-law indicates a plausible direction of development towards liability in horizontal relationships. The thesis further examines whether the expansion of the concept of an economic unit affects the attraction of jurisdiction under Article 8(1) of the Brussels Ibis Regulation. An analysis of recent case-law shows that an entity which is not a direct addressee of a competition authority’s decision may nevertheless act as an anchor defendant if it belongs to the same economic unit as the addressee. The thesis concludes that the concepts of competition law are uniformly transposed into private international law, which facilitates access to legal protection for victims while raising questions regarding the potential abuse of jurisdiction rules and legal predictability for defendants.
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