On 7 November 2018, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission ("CCPC") launched a public consultation on a proposal to launch a “simplified procedure” for the CCPC’s review of mergers, which clearly do not raise competition concerns. Matheson’s response to this consultation is available here.
On 7 November 2018, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission ("CCPC") launched a public consultation on a proposal to launch a “simplified procedure” for the CCPC’s review of mergers, which clearly do not raise competition concerns. Matheson’s response to this consultation is available here.
Matheson welcomes the objective to reduce the burdens associated with a CCPC merger notification for ‘no issues’ transactions. In our view, key requirements for the proposed “simplified procedure” to be effective include that: (i) the market share qualification criteria should be in line with that applicable to the European Commission’s simplified merger review procedure; (ii) parties should be entitled to self-assess eligibility for the “simplified procedure”; and (iii) the time periods for clearance of “simplified procedure” mergers should be reduced in view of the efficiencies brought about by the procedure.
This article was co-authored by EU, Competition and Regulatory partner, Kate McKenna and EU, Competition and Regulatory associate, Áine Mariga.