EU & Competition Law Update: The New Irish Merger Control Regime In Its First Year

The Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 (the "2014 Act"), which came into force in late October 2014, reshaped the Irish merger control landscape. Some of the more noteworthy changes include changes to the rules triggering a filing requirement and the introduction of a revised Irish 'media merger' regime.

New Thresholds

The amendments to the Competition Act 2002, introduced by the 2014 Act, clarified that a merger takes place where there is a transfer of property even where there is no corresponding transfer of a legal entity. Furthermore, the turnover thresholds were somewhat relaxed. A filing can now be required where a target's asset(s) has as little as €3 million in turnover in the State and provided that the aggregate turnover of the undertakings involved in the State is at least €50 million.  This has clearly had implications for property transactions involving assets generating relatively small amounts of turnover, e.g. hotels, office blocks,