The intra-enterprise conspiracy doctrine in the United States and the European Economic Community

With the expansion of multinational enterprises it is important to be cognizant of various differences in foreign substantive laws regarding intra-enterprise conspiracy. In Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp.' the U.S. Supreme Court adopted a per se rule that wholly-owned subsidiaries lack the capacity to conspire with their parent corporation in a manner violative of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. This decision effectively nullified application of the intra-enterprise conspiracy doctrine in situations involving a parent corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary. In the European Economic Community (EEC) courts are also moving in the direction of finding competition laws less applicable to agreements between affiliated corporations. However, the EEC has not made such a definitive statement regarding application of the intra-enterprise conspiracy doctrine. (Neither the Commission nor the European Court has ever used the American term 'intra-enterprise conspiracy.')