Direction of development of merger control in the EU and the Republic of Serbia
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Abstract
In March 2021, the European Commission has published Guidance on the application of the referral mechanism established in Article 22 of the Merger Regulation. This Guidance allows the Commission to review mergers falling below European or national merger thresholds.
The European Commission will start accepting referrals of such mergers from EU national competition authorities. This means that the European Commission has changed its practice because of a perceived enforcement gap regarding potentially anticompetitive mergers, in particular with respect to so-called “killer acquisitions”. To date, such mergers have not been subject to the prior control by European Commission
In order to be referred to the European Commission, mergers must affect trade between Member States and threaten to significantly affect competition within the territory of the Member State or States making the request.
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