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ARTICLE · 09 JANUARY 2026

Unpacking The European Commission's Draft New Merger Assessment Guidelines

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The European Commission has published draft new Merger Assessment Guidelines for public consultation, marking the first substantive revision of EU merger control guidance in over two decades.

European UnionAntitrust/Competition Law
Christophe Humpe
Christophe Humpe
Uwen Yap
Uwen Yap
Greg Dowell
Greg Dowell

On 30 April 2026, the European Commission published its long-awaited draft new Merger Assessment Guidelines for public consultation, paving the way for the first substantive revision of EU merger control guidance in over two decades. The Commission plans to finalise the guidelines, which once adopted will replace the 2004 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and 2008 Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, by the end of the year. 

The publication of the draft guidelines is the culmination of an ambitious review process launched by the Commission in May 2025. It aims to modernise the analytical framework for the assessment of mergers, to reflect current practice and market realities, and respond to growing political pressure to facilitate industrial consolidation and scale-enhancing mergers that can improve the competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy of the EU economy. 

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