Beyond Skanska. The Court of Appeal of Leeuwarden’s Latest Decision in TenneT

Abstract

The Court of Justice’s decision in Skanska constituted a milestone in the development of the rules on private enforcement of EU competition law. The Court settled the widely disputed question as to whether or not the concept “undertaking” has the same scope under the rules relating to public and private enforcement of competition law. The Court answered this question positively and deduced that the theory of economic continuity developed in EU competition law also applies in cases for damages caused by the infringement of the EU competition rules. Shortly after the Skanska decision a Dutch Court of Appeal deduced from the Skanska decision that a subsidiary can be held liable for damages caused by an infringement of the competition rules by its parent company. The case note discusses whether this indeed follows from the Skanska decision in light of the Court of Justice’s earlier case law on the theory of parent company liability and it relationship to the concept “undertaking”.