Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Commission definition

What does Commission mean? In legal practice, a commission is a payment, usually percentage‑based, made to an agent, broker or introducer for securing business or facilitating a transaction. Under UK bribery law, the Bribery Act 2010 (England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) does not define commission, but criminalises offering, promising, giving, requesting or receiving a financial or other advantage to induce or reward improper performance. A commission may constitute such an advantage depending on intent, knowledge and context; not every commission is a bribe. Transparent, proportionate, contractual commissions for genuine services are generally lawful, whereas concealed or disproportionate payments, particularly to public...

CJEU upholds Industrial Bags cartel fines; confirms presumption of parent’s decisive influence and single continuous infringement in ASPLA and Armando Álvarez appeals

Published by a LexisNexis Competition expert

Practice notes

CASE HUB ARCHIVED —this archived case hub reflects the position at the date of the judgment of 22 May 2014; it is no longer maintained.

Case facts

Outline

Appeals were lodged by Plásticos Españoles SA and its parent Armando Álvarez SA against the General Court’s judgments refusing their bids to annul the Commission’s decision of 30 November 2005, which levied a fine on Plásticos Españoles SA and Álvarez, on a joint and several basis, for actively taking part in a Cartel arrangement concerning the supply of industrial plastic bags within the EEA (the ‘Industrial bags cartel’).

This case engages questions about attributing a subsidiary’s unlawful conduct to its parent undertaking or company and the criteria for proving a ‘single and continuous’ infringement.

Parties

Appellants:

Plásticos Españoles SA (ASPLA)
Armando Álvarez SA (Álvarez)

Other party: European Commission

ASPLA is a Spanish undertaking engaged in producing and supplying plastic goods (including industrial bags), and has subsidiaries in France and Portugal. Álvarez is the Spanish holding company of a corporate group active in the engineering, mining and construction fields, and in 2002 it owned a 98.6% stake in ASPLA...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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