This chapter provides an overview of EU merger control and the jurisdictional rules which determine whether a particular merger should be investigated by the European Commission or by the national competition authorities. It deals with procedural considerations such as the mandatory pre-notification to the Commission of mergers that have a Union dimension and the timetable within which the Commission must operate. It discusses the substantive analysis of mergers under the EU Merger Regulation (‘the EUMR’) and explains the procedure for the Commission to authorise a merger on the basis of commitments offered by the parties to address its competition concerns. Finally, it describes the Commission’s powers of investigation and enforcement, judicial review of Commission decisions by the EU Courts and cooperation between the Commission and other competition authorities, both within and outside the EU. The chapter concludes with an examination of how the EUMR merger control provisions work in practice.
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21. Mergers (2): EU law
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22. Mergers (3): UK law
This chapter provides an overview of the UK system of merger control and explains the procedure of the Competition and Markets Authority (‘the CMA’) when determining whether a merger should be referred for an in-depth ‘Phase 2’ investigation and when deciding to accept ‘undertakings in lieu’ of a reference. It describes how Phase 2 investigations are conducted and discusses the way in which the CMA applies the ‘substantially lessening competition’ (‘SLC’) test in practice. It then explains the enforcement powers in the Enterprise Act 2002, including the remedies that the CMA can impose in merger cases, and discusses various supplementary matters, such as powers of investigation and enforcement. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the merger control provisions work in practice and provides a brief account of the provisions on public interest cases, other special cases and mergers in the water industry.
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7. Articles 101 and 102: public enforcement by the European Commission and national competition authorities under Regulation 1/2003
This chapter explains the public enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 by the European Commission and the national competition authorities (‘the NCAs’) under Regulation 1/2003. It begins by describing the Commission’s powers of investigation and enforcement, including its power to accept commitments, its leniency programme, the cartel settlement procedure and its power to impose financial penalties. It then discusses the operation of Regulation 1/2003 in practice, with particular reference to the European Competition Network (‘the ECN’) that brings together the Commission and the NCAs. The chapter concludes by providing a brief account of judicial review of the Commission’s decisions.
