New rules applicable pursuant to the adoption of 2023 Merger Simplification Package which was adopted on 20 April 2023, and in particular according to the revised Implementing Regulation 2023/914 (as corrected by Implementing Regulation 2024/2776) and new Communication on the transmission of documents.
Submission of documents
Transmission of documents to and from the Commission shall take place through digital means, save where the Commission exceptionally agrees that other means may be used.
Secure document exchange platform
EU SEND requires prior registration. Transmissions exceeding the size limitations should be transmitted in two or three parts. A transmittal form provided by EU SEND must be completed correctly and diligently.
Electronic Requests for Information
eRFI is used to respond to a Request for Information addressed to your company by the Commission. eRFI provides a modern and secure workspace designed to accommodate the input of large corporations and smaller companies.
DG Competition's Registry for Mergers
Due to technical constraints, the size of a single email sent to DG Competition should not exceed 15 MB. Contrary to EU SEND and eRFI, emails are not an encrypted channel of communication and your content is less secure.
Electronic submissions delivered by hand or sent by registered post
- Transmissions of over 10 gigabytes in size may be hand delivered or sent by registered post to the Commission’s DG Competition using hard disk drives, formatted in Microsoft Windows-compatible, uncompressed data in a USB 2.0 or 3.0 external enclosure.
- Transmissions of under 10 gigabytes in size. If the Commission exceptionally agrees that other means of transmission may be used (e.g. if EU SEND is not available), may be hand delivered or sent by registered post to DG Competition using external storage devices.
Paper submissions delivered by hand or sent by registered post
Exceptionally, if the Commission agrees that signing documents digitally is not feasible, a paper submission may be hand delivered or sent by registered post to the Commission’s DG Competition. In this case, the following must be submitted:
- a hand signed paper copy of the complete submission;
- two digital copies of the full submission in external storage devices for information (not signed); and
- a hand signed declaration stating that the signed paper copy and the digital copies are identical.
Documents sent by registered post or by means of hand delivery should be addressed to the Commission’s DG Competition at the address set out here.
Timing of submissions
For submissions of a (Short) Form CO and Form RS, time limitations apply. Concretely, if these are transmitted electronically to the Commission on a working day, these are considered received on that same day if an automated acknowledgement of receipt shows in its timestamp that they were received on that day before 17h00 on Mondays-Thursdays and before 16h00 on Fridays and days preceding Commission holidays.
If submitted on a working day after opening hours, submissions of a (Short) Form CO and Form RS are considered received on the next working day.
In the exceptional circumstance that a paper submission of a (Short) Form CO or Form RS is delivered, the same limitations apply.
All documents transmitted electronically to the Commission outside a working day are considered received on the next working day.
Allocation of cases
Please send case allocation requests to the Merger Registry by email no later than 12.00 Brussels time on a Friday, so that DG Competition can allocate staff the following week.
Templates
- Model power of attorney for notifications
- Model power of attorney for reasoned submissions
- Template for table for turnover data for notifications
- Template for contact details for competitors and customers
- Template for table for information on national filing obligations for reasoned submissions
As a service to stakeholders, we include below WORD documents containing the relevant submission forms. Please note that only the adopted texts as published in the Official Journal are authentic.
| Please note that these word templates have been updated following the adoption of a Act correcting Implementing Regulation 2023/914. The consolidated version of the Implementing Regulation is available on EUR-Lex. |
- Form CO – word template – all language versions
- Short Form CO – word template – all language versions
- Form RS – word template – all language versions
- Form RM – word template – all language versions
Signing documents electronically
To be considered valid, the Power of Attorney for the purposes of a notification, notifications, reasoned submissions, comments on the Commission's objections, commitments offered by the undertakings concerned and the Form RM (sent to DG Competition digitally, by hand or by registered post) must be signed using at least one Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) complying with the requirements set out in Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (the “eIDAS Regulation”). In case of transactions notified jointly (Article 4(2) EUMR), at least one QES by each notifying party is required. Other types of electronic signatures, such as scanned signatures or Advanced Electronic Signatures as defined in the eIDAS Regulation that do not meet the requirements of QES are not accepted. Please see the Communication on the transmission of documents for more information.
Multiple signees can affix their signatures to a document using various QES. For instance, a notification must bear the signatures of all notifying parties. In certain scenarios, a new signature can inadvertently supersede or compromise a prior one, especially when it alters critical components of the document. This could render the initial signature incapable of verifying whether the original content remains unaltered. Since the Commission cannot offer guidance to stakeholders on the optimal use of diverse commercial solutions, stakeholders are encouraged to seek direct assistance as needed.
For more information on electronic signatures, please see here.
Only paper submissions delivered to DG Competition by hand or sent by registered post can be hand signed.