The presumption of parental liability and the need for full judicial review - An analysis of based on the recent case of Alliance One v European Commission.

Abstract: The presumption of parental liability is an important tool for the Commission, enabling it to hold parent companies jointly and severally liable with their subsidiaries. Parent companies claim however, that they cannot rebut the presumption and are thus rendered strictly liable for their subsidiaries’ conduct. Due to the fact that parent companies repeatedly failed rebutting the presumption with evidence based arguments, they have changed their approach. Thus, parent companies started bringing appeals, claiming that their right to a fair trial was violated. This gave rise to a general debate regarding the compatibility of competition law proceedings, and in particular the presumption of parental liability, with Article 6 ECHR. This question has become increasingly interesting in the light of the CFREU and the possible future accession of the EU to the ECHR.