Europese Ministerraad wijzigt regelgeving voor fusies in het bedrijfsleven (en)
The Council of ministers has today given its final approval to a new merger control law which will come into force in May at the same time as the European Union's enlargement. "The new law will equip the European Union with a modern, more flexible and efficient legislation to cater for the interests of 450 million consumers from 1st of May of this year," said Competition Commissioner Mario Monti.
The Council of Ministers responsible for economic and monetary affairs today gave its final approval to a new Merger Regulation which will come into force on May 1st. The formal adoption follows the unanimous political agreement at the Competitiveness Council on 27 November 2003.
The Merger Regulation was first adopted in 1989 and took effect on 21 December 1990. It created a one-stop shop where companies apply for regulatory clearance for mergers and acquisitions above certain worldwide and European turnover thresholds (see accompanying Memo/04/9).
The new Regulation introduces some flexibility into the investigation timeframes while retaining the much praised predictability, reinforces the "one-stop shop" concept, and clarifies that the Commission has the power to investigate all types of harmful scenarios in a merger, from dominance by a single firm to the effects stemming from a situation of oligopoly that might harm the interests of European consumers.
The new legal text is part of a package of comprehensive reforms, launched in December 2001, for improving what was already a highly rated merger control regime. The package includes guidelines on the assessment of mergers between competing firms (so-called 'horizontal guidelines') which build on the experience acquired in the last 13 years as well as on court decisions. The objective is to provide guidance to companies and the legal community alike as to which mergers may be challenged. Furthermore, the Commission has also already adopted a set of best practices on the conduct of merger investigations designed to streamline and make more transparent the investigation and decision-making process, ranging from issues of economic indicators to rights of the defence.
Some of these reforms are already in place, such as the appointment of a Chief Competition Economist and the setting up of a panel to scrutinise the investigating team's conclusions with a "pair of fresh eyes".
The new Merger Regulation, the Horizontal Guidelines and the Best Practices will be published in the coming days on the Commission's Competition website