Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

Following Article 9.1 of the Competition Act, concentrations reaching the established thresholds set in Article 8.1 must be notified to the Office before the rights and obligations resulting from the concentration are executed and after :
- the conclusion of a contract ;
- the acceptance of a bid in a public tender is announced,
- a state authority’s decision is delivered to an undertaking,
- the  …

Merger notification

Following Article 9.1 of the Competition Act, concentrations reaching the established thresholds set in Article 8.1 must be notified to the Office before the rights and obligations resulting from the concentration are executed and after :

- the acceptance of a bid in a public tender is announced,

- a state authority’s decision is delivered to an undertaking,

- the announcement of an acquisition bid,

- the day when the European Commission informed an undertaking that the Office would examine the matter, or

- the day when another fact occured based on which concentration arose.

The notification of a concentration may also be submitted in the form of an intent before the conclusion of the agreement on which the concentration is based or before another legal fact founding the concentration occurs. In such cases, the notification must also contain written reasoning and written documents certifying the essential facts of the concentration (Article 9.4).

The Antimonopoly Office’s Decree No 189/2021 of 20 May 2021 which establishes the details of the notification of concentration, effective on 1 June 2021, sets out pieces of information to be provided by the parties in the notice of concentration, including a detailed description of the concentration, general market information, data on affected and potentially affected markets, the impact on competition. Upon notifier’s request, the Office can narrow the scope of required information (Article 9.3). The Decree details cases up for such short-form notification :

- acquisition of exclusive control over an entity that acqueror already jointly controls ;

- no horizontal or vertical overlap between the market on which the parties are present results from the concentration ;

- the joint market share from the concentration participant is less than 15% in horizontal mergers, or 30% in a vertical merger.

The Office recommends the use of pre-notification contacts with the Office before submitting the notification. Further details are provided in the Office’s Guidance on pre-notification contacts in the concentration assessment process.

The stand-by rule applies as parties are not to exercise any right and obligation arising from the concentration before the Office issues a decision (Article 10.1).

Filing fees are set at 5000 euros and proof of payment is required to proceed with the notification.

To investigate the possible impact of a notified concentration on competition, the Office can exercise its powers, in particular its right to request information and interviews (Article 16).

The concentration review is a two-stage procedure. On phase I review, the Office must issue a decision on a concentration within 25 working days following the date of delivery of the notification. The decision needs not include a reasoning, but if if does, it shall “ generally indicate the undertakings concerned, the sector or, if applicable, the relevant market in which the undertakings concerned operate ” (Article 35.1). However, a phase II review is opened if the assessment requires a more in-depth analyssis to identify competition concerns. This extend the review an additional 90 working days (Article 35.2). In all cases, the Office can request additional information from the parties, which pauses the time period for its own review (Article 36.3).

Parties as well as third parties showing a legitimate interest in the matter have the right to be heard by the Office before it decides on the concentration (Article 26).

In the decision on a concentration, the Office must exclude protected confidential information (Article 30). It is up to the parties to raise the confidentiality of information and documents they submit (Article 54.3) and to provide the Office, upon request, with non-confidential versions of the documents (Article 54.6).

Global Competition Law

649. Merger notification

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

649. Merger notification

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise