Judgment_paragraph 61 · Akzo Nobel NV and Others v European Commission (C-516/15 P)

61It is in that context that the Court referred to the wholly derivative nature of the liability incurred by the parent company solely because of a subsidiary’s direct participation in the infringement (see, to that effect, judgment of 22 January 2013, Commission v Tomkins, C‑286/11 P, EU:C:2013:29, paragraphs 34, 38, 43 and 49). In that situation, the parent company’s liability arises from its subsidiary’s unlawful conduct, which is attributed to the parent company in view of the economic unit formed by those companies. Consequently, the parent company’s liability necessarily depends on the facts constituting the infringement committed by its subsidiary and to which its liability is inextricably linked.