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Law
Competition Policy

Mergers Regulation

EU Merger Regulation 139/2004

Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (the EC Merger Regulation) Official Journal L 24, 29.01.2004, p. 1-22

In July 2014, the European Commission launched a public consultation on proposals to improve merger control at EU level outlined in a White Paper. At that time, the experience gained since 2004 showed that there was scope for further improvement in some aspects of EU merger control. In its White Paper "Towards More Effective EU Merger Control" the Commission makes proposals that would allow it to better deal with non-controlling minority shareholdings which may affect competition, and that would make referral procedures simpler and faster.

The White Paper was published on 9th July 2014 along with an accompanying Commission Staff Working Document.

Please also see the relevant Impact Assessment and its Executive Summary.

Information Note on the abandonment of concentrations (Article 6(1)c 2nd sentence of Regulation 139/2004

Implementing Regulation 2023/914

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/914 of 20 April 2023 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 802/2004 (Text with EEA relevance)(the “Implementing Regulation”) and its annexes (Form CO, Short Form CO, Form RS and Form RM)(Official Journal OJ L 119, 5.5.2023, p. 22–102)

As part of its initiative to further simplify EU merger control procedures, the Commission has repealed the Consolidated version of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 802/2004 of 21 April 2004 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings as amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1269/2013 of 5 December 2013, and adopted on 20 April 2023 its replacement, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/914.

All information on the main changes made in the context of the Commission’s initiative to further simplify EU merger control procedures can be found in the Press release and the Q&A document on this matter.