Professor Peter Whelan publishes new monograph with Oxford University Press

The book is titled “Parental Liability in EU Competition Law: A Legitimacy-Focused Approach”.

Oxford University Press has published the latest book from the School of Law’s Professor Peter Whelan, on parent company liability in EU competition law. 

In enforcing EU competition law, the European Commission employs a unique, controversial doctrine of parental antitrust liability: it imposes fines on the parent company of an infringing subsidiary in cases where the parent exercises decisive influence over the subsidiary's commercial policy.  

At 625 pages, Parental Liability in EU Competition Law: A Legitimacy-Focused Approach is the first monograph to be dedicated to this challenging topic. Professor Whelan’s book contends that, although the general concept of parental liability can be justified in principle, the current EU-level doctrine of parental antitrust liability in fact suffers from a distinct and problematic lack of legitimacy. It offers a fully-rationalised, reformulated approach to parental antitrust liability for EU competition law violations that is built around the notion of parental fault. 

This book is the most challenging thing that I've done to date in academia. I am delighted to see it added to my collection. With the project behind me, I now move on to my next book with Oxford University Press, which will examine the sanction of debarment in antitrust law.