Irish CCPC Consults On Simplified Merger Notification Guidelines

On 29 October 2019, the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission ("CCPC") published draft Simplified Merger Notification Guidelines seeking views from industry stakeholders. The draft simplified merger procedure is similar to that operated by the European Commission since 2000 and which currently operate across 70% of EU Member States today.

The CCPC considers that the introduction of a simplified merger procedure in Ireland will reduce the review periods for mergers and acquisitions which do not raise competition concerns in the State.

The simplified procedure will apply in principle where:

1. None of the companies involved in a notifiable merger compete or potentially compete in the same product or geographic market, or sell an input to a market where another company competes;