Ireland, in common with the European Commission and national
competition authorities across the European Union, has recently
shown an increased interest in gun jumping, the prohibited practice
of implementing a transaction without having first obtained merger
control clearance. In February 2018 the Competition and Consumer
Protection Commission ("CCPC") confirmed
that it had launched an investigation into suspected gun jumping by
Armalou Holdings Limited (through its wholly-owned subsidiary,
Spirit Ford Limited) of Lillis O'Donnell Motor Company Limited.
This transaction appears to have taken place in December 2015.
Irish merger rules, like those of the European Commission,
require that parties to qualifying transactions cannot implement
them until cleared by the CCPC. While the commission can impose
fines of up to 10% of turnover of companies proceeding with a
merger without first obtaining clearance, in Ireland gun jumping is
a criminal offence and the CCPC can fine
