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Reports of Cases
OPINION OF ADVOCATE GENERAL
EMILIOU
delivered on 8 February 20241
Case C-425/22
MOL Magyar Olaj- es Gazipari Nyrt.
V
Mercedes-Benz Group AG
(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Knria (Supreme Court, Hungary))
(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Judicial cooperation in civil matters - Regulation (EU)
No 1215/2012 - Jurisdiction in matters relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict - Action for
damages for infringements of competition law - Harm suffered by subsidiaries - Place where
the harmful event occurred - Registered office of the parent company - Economic unit)
I. Introduction
1. In 2016, the European Commission adopted a decision concluding that, by colluding on gross
list pricing for medium trucks and heavy trucks, several undertakings - including Mercedes-Benz
Group AG ('the defendant') - had infringed the prohibition laid down in, inter alia, Article 101
TFEU.2 That decision has led to a series of actions for damages, some of which gave rise to
references for a preliminary ruling in which the Court was asked to clarify the proper
interpretation of the jurisdictional rules of Regulation (EU) No 1215/20123 to ascertain which
courts could be seised by such actions.4
2. The present request has arisen in a similar context and seeks the interpretation of that
regulation as regards whether, in essence, a parent company can rely on the competition law
concept of an economic unit in order to establish the jurisdiction of the courts where it has its
registered seat to hear and determine its claim for damages for the harm suffered by its
subsidiaries.
3. More specifically, MOL Magyar Olaj- 6s Gazipari Nyrt. ('the applicant'), established in
Hungary, has a controlling interest in the companies belonging to the MOL group which are
established in various Member States. Those subsidiaries have purchased trucks indirectly from
1 Original language: English.
2 Decision of 19 July 2016 relating to a proceeding under Article 101 [TFEU] and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case AT.39824 -
Trucks) (C(2016) 4673 final) (OJ 2017 C 108, p. 6, 'the Commission Decision').
3 Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of
judgments in civil and commercial matters (OJ 2012 L 351, p. 1).
4 Judgments of 15 July 2021, Volvo and Others (C-30/20, EU:C:2021:604, 'the judgment in Volvo'), and of 29 July 2019, Tibor-Trans
(C-451/18, EU:C:2019:635, 'the judgment in Tibor-Trans').
ECLI:EU:C:2024:131
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