EU Law and Practice Contributed by: Porter Elliott, Catherine Gordley and Niharika Parshurampuria, Van Bael & Bellis
Van Bael & Bellis Glaverbel Building Chaussée de la Hulpe 166 Terhulpsesteenweg B-1170 Brussels Belgium Tel: +32 2 647 73 50 Fax: +32 2 640 64 99 Email: brussels@vbb.com Web: www.vbb.com
1. Legislation and Enforcing Authorities 1.1 Merger Control Legislation Council Regulation 139/2004 on the control of concen - trations between undertakings (the “EU Merger Regu - lation” or EUMR) provides the regulatory framework for the assessment of all “concentrations” (including mergers, acquisitions and certain joint ventures) that have an “EU dimension” (ie, that meet the turnover- based thresholds of the EUMR – see 2.5 Jurisdic- tional Thresholds ). Commission Implementing Regulation 2023/914 (as corrected by Implementing Regulation 2024/2776) (the “Implementing Regulation”) lays out the deadlines and other procedural aspects of the review process and provides the notification forms. The European Commission (the “Commission”) has published additional notices, guidelines and best practice documents, available on its website, exam - ples of which are listed below. Additional jurisdictional and procedural guidance includes: • the Consolidated Jurisdictional Notice; • the Notice on Simplified Procedure; • the Notice on Case Referrals and Guidance on the Application of Article 22 EUMR (see 2.1 Notifica - tion ); and • the Notice on Access to File.
Additional substantive guidance includes: • the Notice on the Definition of the Relevant Market; • the Horizontal Merger Guidelines; • the Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines; and • the Remedies Notice. The Horizontal Merger Guidelines were published in 2004 and the Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines were published in 2008. These guidelines explain the Commission’s practice when assessing the impact of proposed concentrations on competition and their compatibility with the EU internal market. Following a mandate from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, informed by a well-publicised commissioned report from former president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi (see 4.6 Non-Competition Issues ), the Commission is currently reviewing these guide - lines. New draft guidelines were published in April of 2026, followed by an eight-week public consultation period in which interested parties were able to pro - vide comments, before formal guidelines are even - tually adopted. The new guidelines will cover both horizontal and non-horizontal mergers and aim to address concerns raised by stakeholders that inter alia the Commission’s current practice does not give sufficient weight to pro-competitive arguments and is stifling European growth and innovation. 1.2 Legislation Relating to Particular Sectors There is no separate legislation for foreign transac - tions, nor sector-specific legislation.
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