Merger Controls

2023 marked the near finale of the European Commission’s overhaul of its competition policy, leaving only a few loose ends to tie up in 2024/2025. It is now time to watch theory be put into practice by the competition authorities and at the courts.

On 14 July 2023, the Belgian Competition Authority confirmed its jurisdiction to review M&A transactions between hospitals, regardless of whether these hospitals belong to the same hospital network.

The ECJ overruled the General Court in its CK Telecoms ruling, taking the strict requirements that the GC placed on the Commission when reviewing mergers off the table. This will make it easier for competition authorities to intervene in merger cases.

Earlier this year, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) entered into force to close a loophole in EU regulations aimed at creating a level playing field within the internal market.

The Belgian screening mechanism for FDIs will enter into force on 1 July 2023. The mechanism is designed to safeguard Belgium's critical infrastructure and to protect sectors crucial to Belgium's public order, national security and strategic interests.

The ACM needs to ‘try, try again’ when assessing healthcare mergers. The Rotterdam District Court overturned two of the ACM’s healthcare merger prohibitions within less than two months.

Where is the line between openness and protectionism in the European single market? At both EU and national level, more and more protective barriers against foreign investors and acquirers have been created in the international competition.

Companies beware: completed non-notifiable concentrations do not necessarily go scot-free. An ex post abuse-of-dominance investigation by national competition authorities (NCA) could still loom.

2022 marks the second year of the EU Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Regulation, and the year in which legislators haven been busy shaping the Dutch national security screening regime and the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation.

While 2022 revolved around new and improved regulatory tools, the focus in 2023 will be on putting these tools to use. More merger-related obligations, digital sector scrutiny and clarity on competition-law and consumer-law aspects is imminent.