The CJEU drew a clear distinction between EU principles on the private enforcement of EU competition law and EU principles on private international law. In these two cases, the legal certainty served by private international law instruments on jurisdiction and service prevailed over private enforcement goals such as deterrence and full compensation. For the predictability of valid service of process and of the courts’ jurisdiction, it is pivotal which legal entities are served and/or sued. This outweighs further facilitation of claimants, so the ‘single economic unit’ concept that is used in competition law to consider various entities within a group as one and the same ‘undertaking’ to which the EU competition rules apply was not extended to jurisdiction and service in these cases.
31
Jul