The European Commission has launched today a public consultation to seek feedback on its ongoing review of the EU merger guidelines. The merger guidelines describe the framework that the Commission applies when assessing the competitive impact of mergers on markets. The review process will focus on how the Commission's assessment should give adequate weight to innovation, efficiency, resilience, the time horizons and investment intensity of competition in certain strategic sectors, sustainability, the changed defence and security environment and other acute transformational needs of our times.
See also the corresponding COMP Flash.

The Commission is proposing to revise both the Horizontal Merger Guidelines (published in 2004) as well as the Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines (published in 2008) in a holistic exercise. The goal is to ensure the Guidelines are up-to-date in order to allow the Commission to continue to protect competition under the Merger Regulation in evolving market realities, while not intervening in transactions that do not harm competition. In addition, the revised merger guidelines should provide increased transparency and predictability to the business community as to how the Commission assesses mergers today. The Commission will conduct concurrently both an Evaluation and an Impact Assessment to support the review of the Guidelines.
Any interested citizen, business or association can contribute by replying to the general public consultation questionnaire until 3 September 2025.
See also the European Commission's press release.

The Commission is proposing to revise both the Horizontal Merger Guidelines (published in 2004) as well as the Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines (published in 2008) in a holistic exercise. The goal is to ensure the Guidelines are up-to-date in order to allow the Commission to continue to protect competition under the Merger Regulation in evolving market realities, while not intervening in transactions that do not harm competition. In addition, the revised merger guidelines should provide increased transparency and predictability to the business community as to how the Commission assesses mergers today. The Commission will conduct concurrently both an Evaluation and an Impact Assessment to support the review of the Guidelines.
The present consultation runs in parallel to a general Public Consultation and focusses on in-depth and technical parameters related to EU merger control. The form provides 7 specific topics that are relevant for the Commission’s assessment, as well as accompanying technical questions. Any interested citizen, business or association can contribute by replying to the general public consultation questionnaire until 3 September 2025.
See also the European Commission's press release.

The objective of the workshop is to discuss the findings of the ex-post evaluation study into ‘killer acquisitions’ in the pharma sector performed by Lear and published by DG Competition on 28 November 2024. Economic and legal experts will have a chance to compare the findings of the study to other recent research.
Registration is now open for the workshop, which will take place on Thursday 10 April, 14:00 – 16:30h.

In case you missed it, here you can watch the whole online expert workshop - DG Competition study on ‘killer acquisitions’ in the pharma sector, held by DG COMP on April 10 2025. The objective of the workshop was to discuss the findings of the ex-post evaluation study into ‘killer acquisitions’with economic and legal experts also comparing the findings of the study to other recent research.

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of part of the aerospace actuation business of Collins Aerospace by Safran USA Inc. (‘Safran'), controlled by Safran S.A., a leading French aerospace company. The approval is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments offered by Safran.

DG COMP has launched a call for tender for an economic study on the dynamic effects of mergers, such as its impact on incentives to innovate and invest. The study aims to provide analytical foundations to assess whether a merger has a positive or negative impact on these dynamic factors, and how they trade off against static factors – such as changes in prices or output.
See also DG COMP's press release.

The European Commission has approved unconditionally, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Infinera Corporation by Nokia Corporation. The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA').

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Aluflexpack AG by Constantia Flexibles GmbH. The approval is conditional upon full compliance with commitments offered by the parties.

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of DS Smith Plc by International Paper Company. The approval is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments offered by the parties.

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Ansys, Inc. (‘Ansys') by Synopsys, Inc. (‘Synopsys'). The approval is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments offered by the parties.

The European Commission has approved unconditionally, under the EU Merger Regulation (‘EUMR'), the proposed acquisition of Run:ai Labs Ltd (‘Run:ai') by NVIDIA Corporation (‘NVIDIA'). The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA').

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Dorna Sports by Liberty Media. The Commission has preliminary concerns that the transaction could lead to higher prices for the licensing of broadcasting rights for motorsports events hosted by both parties.

The European Commission has approved unconditionally, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Catalent by Novo Holdings. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA').

The European Commission has decided to withdraw its 2021 communication providing guidance on the application of the referral mechanism set out in Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation (‘EUMR') to certain categories of cases (‘Guidance').

The fourth issue of 2024 includes the following articles: Celanese / Dupont (Mobility & Materials Business); Booking/eTraveli; Korean Air/Asiana, Lufthansa/MEF/ITA, IAG/Air Europa; and Bunge/Viterra.

The objective of this study is twofold. First, the “fact-finding” challenge aims at assessing the pervasiveness and characteristics of the phenomenon of killer acquisitions. Second, the “evaluation” challenge aims to conduct an ex-post evaluation of cases that may have involved killer acquisitions.

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, EasyJet Airline Company PLC (‘EasyJet'), International Airlines Group (‘IAG') and Air France-KLM S.A., Société Air France and Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (together ‘AFKLM') as suitable remedy takers under the commitments made by Lufthansa AG (‘Lufthansa') and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (‘MEF') in order to acquire joint control over ITA Airways (‘ITA'). The approval of suitable remedy takers is a condition for Lufthansa and the MEF to implement the transaction.

The Commission takes note of the judgments of the General Court in Cases T-58/20 (NetCologne v Commission), T-64/20 (Deutsche Telekom v Commission) and T-69/20 (Tele Columbus v Commission), fully upholding a 2019 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission approved the acquisition of certain Liberty Global assets by Vodafone, subject to conditions.
In its judgments, the General Court confirmed the Commission’s assessment of both (i) the potentially negative impact of the transaction, as notified, on the retail TV markets in Germany; and (ii) of the suitability of the remedies submitted by the merging parties to address the identified competition concerns.
See also Curia's press release (in PDF format), as well as judgments T-64/20, together with T-69/20.

The Commission takes note of the judgement of the General Court fully upholding a 2020 Commission decision. In its decision, the Commission approved the acquisition of joint control of INWIT by Telecom Italia and Vodafone, subject to conditions.
In its judgment, the General Court confirmed the Commission’s assessment of the suitability of the remedies submitted by the merging parties to address the identified competition concerns.