CYPRUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Marios Pelides and Dominique Pelides, Georgiades & Pelides
1. Legislation and Enforcing Authorities 1.1 Merger Control Legislation
ings require approval by the Superintendent of Insurance. • There are restrictions on the acquisition of significant shareholdings in entities active in the press/broadcasting industry by residents of states outside the EU. • There are also restrictions on the acquisition of immovable property by residents of coun - tries outside the EU. Please also refer to 9.1 Legislation and Filing Requirements regarding the potential introduc - tion of an FDI regime in Cyprus, which (if imple - mented in its current draft form) would operate alongside the existing merger control regime. 1.3 Enforcement Authorities The competent authority responsible for enforc - ing the merger control legislation in Cyprus is the CPC. The CPC is the entity to which merger con - trol notifications are submitted, and the entity that issues decisions (both Phase I and Phase II) with respect to these notifications. The CPC is assisted by the CPC’s Service (the “Service”). The Service investigates a notification and sub - mits a report to the CPC. The CPC’s decisions may be appealed (by way of administrative recourse) to the Administrative Court. Decisions of the Administrative Court may, in turn, be appealed to the Court of Appeal, with decisions of the Court of Appeal being in turn appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court (on certain grounds and subject to leave). Additionally, the Minister for Energy, Commerce and Industry (the “Minister”) has the authority to declare that a particular concentration is of major importance, in which case the provisions of the Law will apply to the concentration even if the concentration in question does not meet the usual thresholds (see 2.5 Jurisdictional
The relevant merger control legislation in Cyprus is the Control of Concentrations between Under - takings Law of 2014 (L. 83 (I)/2014) (the “Law”). The Law came into effect on 20 June 2014 and has not been amended since its introduc - tion (other than purely corrective amendments). No subsidiary legislation or guidance has been issued pursuant to the Law, although as Cyprus is a member state of the EU, the European Com - mission (EC) Merger Regulation is also relevant. In practice, the Cyprus Commission for the Pro - tection of Competition (CPC), as well as practi - tioners, also refer to the Commission Consoli- dated Jurisdictional Notice on Merger Control. 1.2 Legislation Relating to Particular Sectors There are several areas where specific consents may be required or particular processes must be followed in order to implement a particular trans - action (in addition to merger clearance). The fol - lowing is a non-exhaustive list of examples. • Acquisitions of significant interests (10% or more) in certain types of institutions regulated by the Central Bank of Cyprus (including banks, credit servicers and credit acquiring companies) require pre-approval from the Central Bank of Cyprus. • Takeover bids are subject to a specific regula - tory regime, in addition to requiring merger clearance, if they meet the applicable thresh - olds. • Acquisition of significant interests (10% or more) in insurance or reinsurance undertak -
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