Skip to main content
Law
Competition Policy
Press release26 March 2021

Commission announces evaluation results and follow-up measures on jurisdictional and procedural aspects of EU merger control

 swd_evaluation_mergers.jpg

The European Commission has published today a Staff Working Document that summarises the findings of the evaluation of procedural and jurisdictional aspects of EU merger control. Following the results of the evaluation, the Commission decided to adopt a communication providing guidance on the application of the referral mechanism between Member States and the Commission set out in Article 22 of the Merger Regulation, and launch an impact assessment on exploring policy options for further targeting and simplification of merger procedures.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “The EU merger procedures have served us well so far. Our evaluation however has identified some areas for improvement. A number of transactions involving companies with low turnover, but high competitive potential in the internal market are not reviewed by either the Commission or the Member States. A more frequent use of the existing tool of referrals under Article 22 of the Merger Regulation can help us capture concentrations which may have a significant impact on competition in the internal market. In parallel, we are also looking at the possible revision of certain procedural aspects of EU merger control. To this end, we invite input from stakeholders on different policy options to achieve further targeting and simplification of the EU merger control procedures.

Read full press release

Details

Publication date
26 March 2021