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ARTICLE · 12 MARCH 2025

Brussels Regulatory Brief: February 2025

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This is the February 2025 edition of monthly EU regulatory briefs - summarising key regulatory developments across a number of sectors in the EU.

European UnionAntitrust/Competition Law
Mélanie Bruneau
Mélanie Bruneau
Francesco Carloni
Francesco Carloni
Giovanni Campi
Giovanni Campi
Nikolaos Peristerakis
Nikolaos Peristerakis
Antoine De Rohan Chabot
Antoine De Rohan Chabot
Michael Hofmann Dr.
Michael Hofmann Dr.
Simas Gerdvila
Simas Gerdvila
Edoardo Crosetto
Edoardo Crosetto

ANTITRUST AND COMPETITION

The French Competition Authority Launches Public Consultation Addressing Below-Threshold Transactions

On 14 January 2025, the French Competition Authority (Autorité de la concurrence, FCA) launched a public consultation on the introduction of a new merger control framework aimed at addressing below-threshold transactions that could harm competition in France.

The FCA's initiative follows the Illumina/Grail judgment issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 3 September 2024. In that judgment, the CJEU clarified that referrals to the Commission under Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation can only be accepted when national competition authorities (NCAs) themselves have jurisdiction to review transactions. As a result, NCAs cannot refer to the Commission transactions that fall below their national merger filing thresholds. Thus, the CJEU's judgment invites national legislatures to legislate accordingly if national

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