The EWC Directive also mentions which undertakings are considered part of a group of undertakings. A group of undertakings consists of a ‘controlling undertaking’ that can exercise a dominant influence over another company (‘controlled undertaking’). This dominant influence can be exercised in various ways, for instance, by:

• financial ownership of a company’s capital;

• controlling a majority of votes (in a general assembly of shareholders);

• appointing more than 50 per cent of that company’s administrative, management or supervisory body.

A more detailed issue is the question of how to interpret the phrase about a company that ‘can exercise a dominant influence over another’ used in the Directive. It is widely disputed whether subcontractors and franchisees fall within the category of companies over which the receivers of their production/services (that is, groups of undertakings) exercise a dominant influence. In fact, these the relations between such subcontractors and the sole purchasers of their products/services represent a situation known as monopsony (a market in which there is only one buyer).