To venture or not to venture? Full-function joint ventures in EU competition law : where does their autonomy really lie?

Adam Smith’s assumption that “people of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public” can no longer be endorsed in today’s economic climate. Joint ventures have proliferated and today businesses grow more frequently through strategic alliances. Yet, joint ventures have been subject to debate with regard to their effect on competition and their place in the corporate structure. There are two aspects of the analysis of joint ventures under the rules on competition that interest us: on the one hand, under Council Regulation No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings and, on the other hand, under Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.