Clifford Chance

The European Commission expands its remit for merger control review

1 April 2021

The European Commission (the "Commission") has published its long-anticipated guidance on its revised approach to the referral mechanism under Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation (the "Guidance").

The new approach means that a national competition authority of an EU Member State ("NCA") can initiate a referral of a merger to the Commission, for review under the EU Merger Regulation, even if that transaction is not notifiable under the NCA's own merger control laws, or indeed those of any other EU member state. The Guidance represents a material departure from the Commission's previous practice and is expected to have significant ramifications for certain types of transactions.

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