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Consultation on Evaluation of procedural and jurisdictional aspects of EU merger control

Policy field

Competition: Merger control

Target group

The Commission invites interested stakeholders to respond to the public consultation, which is part of the Commission's evaluation of procedural and jurisdictional aspects of EU merger control.

The Commission seeks feedback, among other stakeholders, from citizens, undertakings, industry and business organisations, consumer associations, professional associations and Member States' authorities.

Stakeholders in the digital economy and the pharmaceutical sector in particular are welcome to comment on the jurisdictional thresholds' section of the questionnaire (IV.2. Jurisdictional thresholds).

Consultation period

From 07.10.2016 until 13.01.2017

Objective of the consultation

Context

Merger control constitutes one of the instruments of EU competition law. It aims at ensuring that competition in the internal market is not distorted by corporate reorganisations in the form of concentrations. It is based on Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (the “EU Merger Regulation”), its Implementing Regulation and related Notices and Guidelines. EU merger legislation can be found here.

In recent years (particularly in 2009 and from 2013 onwards), the European Commission has taken stock and assessed the functioning of different aspects of EU merger control and identified possible areas for refinement, improvement and simplification. In particular, the European Commission adopted in 2014 the White Paper "Towards More Effective EU merger control (the "White Paper"). Based on the White Paper, the Commission carried out a public consultation and the results of that public consultations can be accessed here.

Scope of the evaluation

Simplification and functioning of the case referral system: in light of the positive feedback on the White Paper's proposals on simplification and the European Commission's general objective to cut red-tape where possible, it appears appropriate to explore whether there is scope for further simplification of EU merger control. Similarly, the evaluation seeks feedback on the functioning of the case referral system between Member States and the Commission.

New issues – effectiveness of the turnover-based jurisdictional thresholds of the EU Merger Regulation: the EU Merger Regulation only applies to concentrations of a Union dimension, which are those where the undertakings concerned meet the relevant turnover thresholds. A debate has recently emerged on the effectiveness of these purely turnover-based jurisdictional thresholds, specifically on whether they allow to capture all transactions which can potentially have an impact in the internal market. This may be particularly significant in certain sectors, such as the digital and pharmaceutical industries, where the acquired company, while having generated little turnover as yet, may play a competitive role, hold commercially valuable data, or have a considerable market potential for other reasons.

Other technical aspects: recent experience in enforcing the EU Merger Regulation has shown the opportunity to evaluate certain technical aspects of the procedural and investigative framework for the assessment of mergers. Some of these aspects had already been identified in the 2014 Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the White Paper.

Please click here to access the questionnaire for public consultation and submit your contribution.

Received contributions will be fully published on this webpage, unless respondents choose an anonymised publication of their responses or do not authorise any publication of their responses.

Please note that we cannot guarantee to take account of replies received after the deadline. We would appreciate receiving documents in an electronic format.

View the consultation document

Questionnaire for public consultation: en
Evaluation roadmap en
Consultation strategy en

Contact details

Responsible service: Directorate-General for Competition – Unit A2
Please always indicate the reference number in your correspondence: Ref.: HT. 3053
e-mail: COMP-A2-MAIL@ec.europa.eu

Postal address:
European Commission
Directorate-General for Competition
Ref.: HT.3053
1049 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgique /België

Replies to the consultation

Summary of replies

Public authorities

Austria - Austrian Federal Competition Authority en
Austria - Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy de
Czech Republic - Office for the Protection of Competition en - annex en
Czech Republic – Czech National Bank en
Denmark - The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority on behalf of the Danish Government en - annex en
France - Autorité de la concurrence fr - annex fr
France – Permanent Representation of France fr
Germany - Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie und Bundeskartellamt de - annex de
Germany - Monopolkommission en
Ireland - Irish Competition Authority en
Italy - Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) en - annex en
Netherlands - Dutch Competition Authority (ACM) en
Netherlands - Dutch Ministry for Economic Affairs nl
Norway - Norwegian Government: Royal Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries en
Poland - Office for Competition and Consumer Protection) en
Slovak Republic - Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic en - annex en
Spain - Comision Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia en
Spain - Catalan Competition Authority en - annex en
Sweden - Swedish Competition Authority en - annex en
United Kingdom - Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) en - annex en
United Kingdom – UK Government: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy en

Registered organisations

Law firms

Abreu Associados en
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer en - annex en
Jones Day en - annex en
Latham & Watkins en
LK Shields Solicitors en
Norton Rose Fulbright en
Simmons & Simmons LLP en

Companies

Adobe, Cisco and Oracle en - annex en
Cisco Systems Inc. en - annex en
CPPIB, AIMCO, OMERS, PSPIB, bcIMC, OTPP, CPDQ en - annex en
Enel Spa en
IBM en
Philips International B.V. en - annex en
Telefonica SA en - annex en

Associations

American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (AmCham) en - annex 1 en - annex 2 en
Application Developers Alliance en
Association des Avocats pratiquant le Droit de la Concurrence (APDC) en - annex en/fr
Association française des entreprises privées (AFEP) en - annex en
Association of in-house competition lawyers (ICLA) en
British Property Federation en - annex en
Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer (The German Federal Bar) en - annex en
Business Europe en
Cercle de l'Industrie en - annex en
City of London Law Society Competition Law Committee en
Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) en - annex en
Confindustria Radio Televisioni it
DIGITALEUROPE en - annex en
European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) en - annex en
European Association of Investors in Non-Listed Real Estate Vehicles (INREV) en - annex en
European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) en - annex en
European Competition Lawyers Forum (ECLF) en - annex en
European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) en - annex en
European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association en - annex en
Federation of Enterprises in Belgium en - annex fr
Federation of German Industries (BDI) en - annex en - annex de
GSMA en - annex en
Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA) en - annex en
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) en - annex en
Invest Europe en - annex en
Investment Property Forum en - annex en

Education and research institutions

Association Française d'Etudes de la Concurrence (AFEC) en
British Institute of International and Comparative Law en - annex en

Non-registered organisations