The Single Economic Entity Doctrine in EU Competition Law

The Single Economic Entity Doctrine in EU Competition Law Focused on applying single economic entity doctrine in relation to merger control of State Owned Enterprises Abstract This thesis focuses on the issues surrounding single economic entity doctrine in relation to State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), in particular on the effects of Article 22 of the Preamble of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (EUMR), and the Commission Consolidated Jurisdictional Notice under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings. Together these documents set the standards for merger control practice concerning SOEs. They are centred around the principle of applying the single economic entity doctrine when identifying the turnover of SOEs and when determining the jurisdiction of the Commission. The thesis possesses two major goals. The primary goal of the thesis is to elucidate the criteria used for the determination of a single economic unit (single economic entity) with independent decision-making power in the public sector. To this end, in chapter 3, the author has synthetized a list of the relevant criteria used for the determination of an economic entity, based on the criteria used by the Commission that have..