Brussels, 23/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has referred part of the proposed acquisition by UK-based retail company Tesco plc of the Czech and Slovak retailing business of French company Carrefour to the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic, following the latter's request under the EU Merger Regulation. This is the first time that a merger case has been referred to a competition authority in a Member State that joined the EU in 2004. Tesco's owns and operates 31 stores in Slovakia and 27 stores in the Czech Republic. In its request for referral, the Slovak Antimonopoly Office claims the deal affects competition in the market for the retail sale of daily consumer goods in supermarkets and hypermarkets in three local markets in the cities of Bratislava, Košice and Žilina. The Slovak competition authority argues that these markets do not constitute a substantial part of the Common Market. The Commission found that the transaction affects competition in three local markets which are distinct markets within the Slovak Republic and which do not form a substantial part of the Common Market (accounting for less than 0.1% of total grocery sales in the EU) and these aspects of the deal will be examined by the Slovak competition authority under national law. At the same time, the Commission approved the transaction with regard to the Czech Republic as it would not significantly impede effective competition in the Czech retailing sector. In the Czech Republic, the merged entity would only be the fourth largest retailing group at the national level. Even in the individual local markets the parties would still face competition from a number of other strong retailers such as Lidl&Schwarz, Ahold or Rewe.