Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-280/06. Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato and Others v Ente tabacchi italiani and Others

Responsibility for breach of the competition rules can be passed on from one economic entity to the one that succeeds it, if both answer to the same public authority.
The principle of personal responsibility does not preclude the penalty for an infringement imposed by a national competition authority from being passed on in its entirety from one entity to another that succeeds it, even though the first entity is still in existence.