Brussels, 18/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The EU Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce has broadly approved the merger reform Regulation set out by the Commission. Commissioner for competition, Mario Monti presented the last Green Paper in December and had been awaiting the reactions of Member States and professional bodies that would be affected by the regulation (see EUROPE yesterday page 15 on the European Parliament hearing). The EU Committee has welcomed the initiative of the Commission and considers that the Green Paper contains, "innovative and interesting proposals". It does have a few reservations and puts forward a number of suggestions. A keen supporter of the "one-stop principle", the EU Committee approves the idea that if a concentration meets notification in at least three Member States, the parties can opt for notification to the Commission. The Committee also supports the Commission's objectives of ensuring that the Merger Regulation is implemented on an economically sound basis that facilitates constructive co-ordination with the US and other jurisdictions, whose merger principles is founded on the same principles. It supports the Commission's proposals to offer notifying parties greater flexibility with respect to the time period in which they must notify concentrations. The Committee does not approve, however of the absence of adequate proposals for how companies' rights are protected and the fact that the Commission does not have to submit its conclusions in a case to an independent decision-making authority.