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suggested condition concerning the obstacle to bringing an action for damages against
the addressees in the earlier proceeding is required in order to attribute liability to a

subsidiary, such condition will be applied when the Commission and CJEU intend to
attribute liability by referring to the single economic entity doctrine. However, there is

the observation that the obstacle condition is brought up by the CJEU when it considers
the single economic entity doctrine regarding the principle of economic succession but
absence in the principle of parental liability, even both principles ultimately concerns

with the attribution of different legal persons in the same economic entity. Another
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condition such as actual involvement of a subsidiary, even though it will render the civil

liability of a subsidiary to be in accordance with the principle of personal liability,
should not be considered as a desirable requirement. Were the condition to be deemed
as a requirement, it would be directly contradicted with the principle of parental liability

since a parent company does not need to be involved in an infringement of a subsidiary
in order to be held liable.
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Nevertheless, were the ECJ in case Sumal to determine that innocent subsidiary’s
liability is one of the instruments required in order to ensure the deterrent effect of the
EU competition law, it would be necessary for the ECJ to devise further conditions.

It is due to the concern that, as the analysis has indicated, the attribution of liability
based purely on the fact that different legal persons form a single economic entity would

result in the establishment of other innocent constituents of a corporate group, such as
employees, agencies or subcontractors. One possibility of the consideration could be

observed in the judgment of the Commercial Court of Valencia, which determines that

a subsidiary is deemed to be carried on economic activities stemming from the infringing
business strategy. However, it is inadvisable for the ECJ to engage further and shift
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the burden of proof to a corporate group to adduce sufficient evidence to show that
a subsidiary’s economic activities are independent of a parent company since it would
inevitably follow the methodology of the presumption of the actual exercise of decisive

129 Case C-882/19 Sumal, Summary of the request, supra (n.125), para 22
130 Case C-97/08 P Akzo Nobel, supra (n.19) para 59
131 Juzgado de lo Mercantíl No. 3 de Valencia, supra (n.113), para 46

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