The Irish competition regulator (the “CCPC”) has a
track record of requiring behavioural remedies
in merger cases which has been continued in the recent CCPC case of
Pandagreen / Knockharley Landfill and
Natureford.
By way of background, in 2018 the CCPC accepted commitments in
five cases (5% of cases) all of which involved behavioural
commitments and this represented a three-fold increase from 2017
where behavioural commitments were required in two cases.
This distinguishes Ireland from other jurisdictions (including the
UK and EU) where structural remedies are almost always
preferred.
Until now, behavioural commitments accepted by the CCPC have
tended to primarily consist of “ring-fencing”
commitments to prevent access to competitively sensitive
information held by the target about its competitors in the context
of post-merger management of the merged firm and / or in a joint
venture situation (e.g. M/18/016 Trinity Mirror/Northern
& Shell, M/18/031
