Mergers
Cases > About the merger case database
Content of the database
The database contains cases from 21 September 1990. It is updated daily on weekdays between 10:00 and 11:00 (CET)
Notification of mergers
Merger cases appear on the web site once they have been notified. We do not provide information on transactions that are at pre-notification stage.
Once the merger has been announced in the Official Journal, the publication notice is also available on the case file.
Provisional deadline
The provisional deadline is calculated according to the Merger Regulation and the Implementing Regulation.
A decision can be taken before the deadline.
Press releases
A short press announcement is issued at midday for most cases. These press announcements are available daily in the Commission Daily News page.
A full press release is published for decisions on cases under in-depth investigation, where there is a special interest (high media expectation, or a novel feature, for instance). Press releases are posted on the Commission Daily news page, the merger news page and the relevant case file.
Publication of decisions
The full text of each decision is published as soon as a public version (with no business secrets) is available. This happens usually several weeks after the adoption of the decision (once the merging parties agree on a non-confidential text). This may take quite a long time for phase-II decisions. We advise to monitor the relevant case page or the latest updates on cases regularly.
Language of the decision text:
Phase I decisions
- an announcement of a Phase I decision is published in the Official Journal in all EU languages and on the competition website case database;
- the full text of all final Phase I decisions is published on the Commission's website, but only in the original language in which the parties notified.
Phase II decisions (based on Art. 8 EC Merger Regulation, following an in-depth investigation)
- A summary of the final decision is published in the Official Journal and therefore available in all EU languages. The link to the official journal publication is also available on the competition website case file. The translation requires additional time.
- The full text of the decision is published on its website in English, French and German. In addition, it may also be published in the language of the proceeding if it is different from those three languages.
Availability of other information related to merger cases
Any information not included on this site is not available to the public and cannot be accessed either through DG Competition's site or through telephone or e-mail contact.
How to deep-link to a case page
All merger case pages have the same url structure:
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=2_M_XXXX
Where "XXXX" is the number of the case.
For instance, the link to the file of M.7039 is
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=2_M_7039
To find the case number, you can search for the case using various criteria in the case search engine.
Search engine – instructions
Help guide on the simple search (common to all competition policy instruments)
Help guide on the advanced mergers case search.
If you have questions, suggestions or comments on the search tool, contact us.
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