THE CONCEPT OF UNDERTAKING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION COMPETITION LAW

Abstract

One of the most important concepts that the European Union Competition Law uses is the undertaking. In order to correctly apply the rules under this domain, it is necessary to fully understand when an entity is or isn`t an undertaking under competition law. Therefore, the main purpose of the following paper is to facilitate the understanding of the concept of undertakings so as to delimit the area of competition law from others. In the following, we will identify the alternative definitions offered in time by the Court of Justice of the European Union in this matter, but also by doctrine and we will have a short glance over the national courts of the member states' practice. Our analyze will take into consideration also those cases which remain under discussion, such as, but not just that, when can a part of an undertaking that is a subject of a transaction be considered a merger under the European Commission Merger Regulation or how can a natural person represent an undertaking under the European Union competition law. In conclusion, undertakings, parts of undertakings or associations of undertakings, mainly in the light of EU competition law, are the concepts we will be dealing with in the following paper.

Keywords

• Undertaking
• European Union Competition Law
• merger
• European Commission
• economic activity