Has the time come to federalize private competition law? The autonomous concept of undertaking in the CJEU's ruling in Case C-724/17 Vantaa v. Skanska: Case C-724/17 Vantaan kaupunki v. Skanska Industrial Solutions Oy and Others, EU:C:2019:204

Abstract

The private enforcement of EU competition law has been in the center of scholarly discourse for almost two decades. Recently, the CJEU, with its ruling adopted in Vantaa v. Skanska and others, opened a new chapter in the history of EU competition law’s private enforcement. The Court held that the conditions of the existence of this right are questions of EU law and should be given an autonomous meaning. The judgment is revolutionary in terms of conceptualization and, as such, it is expected to have a considerable impact on substantive issues in the future. This signals the advent of a uniform regime of European ‘private competition law,’ which limits the role of national rules to the exercise of the right to compensation.