ARTICLE · 11 OCTOBER 2022

Merger Control

McDermott Will & Emery

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The Belgian rules on merger control are included in Book IV "Protection of competition" of the Belgian Code of Economic Law and the Royal Decree of 30 August 2013 relative to...

BelgiumCorporate/Commercial Law

Hannelore Wiame

1. Overview

The Belgian rules on merger control are included in Book IV "Protection of competition" of the Belgian Code of Economic Law and the Royal Decree of 30 August 2013 relative to notifications of company mergers. The Belgian rules are highly similar to the EU merger control rules, which are often applied by analogy (including notices and guidelines).

The Belgian Competition Authority, an independent administrative authority, is responsible for merger control enforcement. It is composed of:

(i) the President;
(ii) the Competition College, which is presided by the President;
(iii) the Managing Board,
(iv) the Investigation and Prosecution Service, led by the Competition Prosecutor General.

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