Brussels, 10/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 November, the Heads of European national competition authorities (NCAs) and the European Commission agreed a set of best practices (Best Practices on Cooperation between EU National Competition Authorities in Merger Review) for mergers that do not qualify for review by the Commission itself (the one-stop shop review) but require clearance in several member states (“multiple filing”).
Multiple filings may, in some cases, entail significant legal uncertainty, cost and delay for merging parties; they may also be the source of conflicting decisions by NCAs.
The good practices agreed on Wednesday aim to alleviate the difficulties related to multiple filings. They identify the key steps at which the NCAs should cooperate and the information they may share, for instance, on the timing of the review process or on remedies when necessary to avoid a merger harming customers and consumers.
The best practices do not envisage cooperation in all multi-jurisdictional cases. NCAs will decide on a case-by-case basis whether well targeted cooperation (which could be confidential) could enhance the review process. The success of cooperation will depend to a great extent on the goodwill and cooperation of the merging parties, because NCAs will, in most cases, depend on them for permission to exchange confidential information.
These good practices will not affect the guidelines in force since 2004 and which govern the system for the re-allocation of merger cases between the Commission and NCAs. The Best Practices were prepared by a Working Group set up in 2010 by the Commission and the NCAs, with the European Economic Area's NCAs also represented. They were then amended following consultation with stakeholders last spring to clarify, for example, the use and scope of the information system on mergers, the voluntary nature of derogations and the timeframe for communicating information available in the field on the subject of the merger concerned. They clearly explain that confidential information is protected by national legislation in all member states. For further information: http://www.ec.europa.eu/competition/ecn/mergers.html. (FG/transl.fl)